It's All in the Details
by Colleen
Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal.  Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things.  AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Author's note: This is the result of a plot bunny mugging. AU from both before the end of season six (probably) and the end of season two. Darn bunnies. Small amount of Destiel, but hopefully not too much more than what can pop up in the show.

XXXNew Author's note, New Author's noteXXX : October 19th 2012, to clairfy above statement, when I say small amout of Destiel, I'm talking small. Fanservice level. They may never catch a clue (sadly). Additionally, some minor changes were made to this chaper to better explain what was on Ash's map.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 1

Dean knelt in the dirt, placed the tin box squarely into the hole he had just dug and then covered it over, smoothing the earth and gravel out with a few swipes of his hands. He stood and looked down each lane of the crossroads.

"Come on already." He said quietly, yelling out the next line. "Show your face, you bitch!"

"Easy sugar, you'll wake the neighbours."

Dean turned and took in the form of what would have been a beautiful woman if her eyes hadn't just shifted from a dark brown to blood red and back again. He felt the air turn to mud in his lungs as he fully realized what he was about to do, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered now, except getting Sam back.

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"You'll bring him back?"

The crossroads demon nodded. "I will. And because I'm such a saint I'll give you one year and one year only." God, the mud in his lungs just turned to concrete. He ignored it, breathing past it as he listened to the rest of the deal. "But here's the thing. If you try to welch or weasel your way out, then the deal is off. Sam drops dead and he's back to rotten meat in no time." They stared at each other for a moment. "So, was a better deal than your dad ever got. Waddaya say?"

Dean was just one heartbeat away from sealing the pact with a kiss, when the blast tossed him away from her. He landed on his back, hard. Fighting for air, he pulled himself to his knees and stared in disbelief at the blacken remains of the crossroads demon. A few wheezing attempts to breathe later and he was finally able to take in enough oxygen to taste the far too familiar flavour of ozone in the air. A lightening strike had taken the bitch down, but that didn't make any sense. Being that close to her when it happened should have left him just as dead.

"What the hell?"

A light chuckle came from behind him and he spun around, standing up out of his kneeling position as he did. A man stood there, looking somewhat unemotional despite the laugh from a moment before.

"Hello Dean."

The guy's voice was a growl, as if he started his day by gargling gravel and finished it by smoking three packs of cigarettes. Dean assessed him quickly. About 5'10" or so, with blue eyes and dark, slightly messy hair. He wore a trench coat over a nondescript dark suit. Looking at him, tax accountant was what came to mind. Or maybe, demonic IRS.

"Who the hell are you?" Dean poured all of his frustration into the question. He had just been moments away from saving Sammy.

"My name is… unimportant. Though you may call me Cas, if you have the need."

Dean snorted. "What I have a need for, is you telling my why you just screwed over my deal."

The tax accountant looked down at the greasy fried remains of the crossroads demon. "Let's just say that your contract was somewhat above her pay grade."

"Great…" Dean gave the guy a grimace. "So I guess this means I have to kiss you now?"

Trench coat frowned at him. "Why would you do that?"

Dean gestured with his hands, taking in the area of the crossroad. "To seal the deal? To bring Sam back? Any of this ringing any bells with you?"

"The deal?"

"My soul plus one year?"

"For your brother's life." Flat statement.

"Yes!"

The guy, Cas, or whatever his name really was, tilted his head and stared at Dean, apparently mulling the deal over. Then he nodded. "Very well, I think that may be the best way."

Dean crossed the few feet that separated them. He hesitated for a moment, and then grabbed onto the guy's trench coat, pulling him in for the kiss. The hunter was relieved when 'Cas' was initially unresponsive, giving a squeak of surprise when the guy gripped him by the back of the head and used the leverage to deepen the kiss. He devoured Dean's mouth as if the taller man were a gourmet meal, with pie for dessert.

Dean's eyes were glassy when he was released and he filed away the deal demon's mutterings about thanking the pizza man under the heading of Not Asking, Ever.

"Dean."

Dean shook his head to clear it. "What?"

"I'm sorry."

"What?" Dean didn't have the chance to ask him anything further. The tax accountant grabbed him by the left shoulder and pain at a level he'd only experienced once or twice before, when he'd been close to death, shot through him. It literally hurt too much to scream.

Then it got worse.

He was on his knees for a third time that night. The pain was everywhere and he would have been begging for it to stop, if he could only have found his voice. It went on and on and on until his whole life felt as if it had been nothing but this torment.

It was such a shock when it ended.

Dean lay in the dirt, shaking, certain that any further motion wasn't an option.

"I'm sorry, but some things had to remain the same."

What the hell? The same as what? That was the question Dean wanted to ask, but he just didn't have the strength.

"I have to go fix Sam; he should be alive and well by the time you get back to him." The guy hesitated for a moment and then he reached out, touching Dean's head with two fingers. Dean jerked as he found himself behind the wheel of the Impala. A quick assessment proved that his body was suddenly steady enough to drive and the tax accountant from Hell had disappeared on him, which meant… Dean wasted no time starting the car and turning it back towards Cold Oak and Sam.

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Castiel stared down at Sam's body and heaved out a deep breath. This may very well be the stupidest thing he'd ever done, and that was saying something. Time travel had rarely done them any good, yet here he was, trying to change things. The only reason he had any hope that this could work was because this moment in time was balanced on the end of a pin. He wasn't here to try to tip it one way or the other. He was here to remove the flimsy support. The problem was he now had to replace it with something better.

He reached out and touched his fingers to Sam's head. The boy's eyes snapped open and he sucked in a surprised breath. Scrambling up into a sitting position, he took in the trench-coated figure next to him.

"Who the hell are you?"

Cas tilted his head and looked at the young man that he knew well, who currently didn't know him at all.

"You may call me Cas. I am the being that your brother just sold his soul to, in exchange for your life."

Sam's eyes went wide. "No." That one whispered word was almost a prayer in itself. "No. Take it back!"

Cas shook his head. "I will not." He noticed Sam's clenched hands and recognized that the young man was moments away from violence. "Your brother should be back from the crossroads in a few minutes." Sam relaxed slightly at the mention of his brother, and then tensed again.

"How long did you give him?"

"A year." The angel felt his conscience kick at him at Sam's horrified expression, but he buried it. "I would like you to give him a message from me."

"What?"

"Tell him, when someone steps in to take over a deal, that he should really make sure that they didn't change any of the details."

Castiel was fairly certain that if he hadn't disappeared right then, that Sam would have punched him.

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Sam was checking out his completely healed and pain free back when Dean showed up. He wanted to be angry with his older brother, and he was, but when he found himself caught up in a desperate hug the younger man couldn't deny the relief he felt pouring off of Dean, all because Sam was alive once more.

Still, all good things have to end. Sam shrugged out of his brother's arms. "Damn it Dean, why?"

"Sammy?"

"He left you a message. Said you should make sure of the details when someone takes over a deal. Want to tell me what that was about?"

"Son of a bitch." He hadn't wanted Sam to know what he'd done. And he had made sure of the details. His soul plus one year equals Sammy alive. What else was there to know?

"Dean, how could you..."

"Damn it Sammy, what was I supposed to do. I couldn't leave you like that, I just couldn't. I had to save you."

Sam shook his head. "Can't you ever think about looking after yourself?"

Dean gave a short painful bark of laughter. "No, not really."

Sam nodded. "Well, looks like I'll have to do it for you. You're not going to go to Hell Dean, I'll find a way to fix this."

The words, 'you can't' were on the tip of the older Winchester's tongue before he swallowed them. If it would help Sam deal, then let him look. He wouldn't find anything and it should be fine as long as Dean himself didn't try to slip the deal.

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The brothers ate, both of them starving after two day of death and mourning. Avoiding the elephant in the room, Sam filled Dean in about what had happened to him since he'd disappeared and Dean told him about the Roadhouse burning down with everyone inside. After that, the two of them headed back to Bobby's place to try to figure out what Yellow Eyes was up to, now that he had his chosen one in the form of Jake, the guy who had stabbed and killed Sam.

Sitting in the car as they drove, Sam realized how pissed he still was at his brother. All year Dean had been angry with their father for sacrificing his life for his oldest son. However, the minute it was his younger brother that was dead, Dean had turned around and done the same damn thing. Now Sam was the one who would have to deal with the fallout.

He glanced over at Dean and when he realized how happy his brother was, he had to fight the desire to strangle him. Dean really didn't care that he was now damned. He just cared that Sam was all right. He sighed lightly and gave up some of his anger. It was difficult to stay mad at someone who'd given up their soul to save you. Besides, Sam did not intend to let that deal come due, ever.

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When Bobby opened the door to his house, he was expecting to see Dean. He was not expecting Sam to be with him, alive and kicking. The younger Winchester gave him an uncertain half smile and Dean wouldn't look him in the eye. "Hey Bobby."

The older hunter stared at them in shock, before centering his gaze on Dean. Sam decided to end the guessing contest for him.

"Yeah, he did what you think he did."

Dean winced at Sam's statement and Bobby looked furious. "Sam, I'm really, really glad to see you, but right now…" He paused a moment to collect himself. "I've got the latest info on the desk. Look it over while I have a chat with your brother."

Sam nodded and got out of the way as the older man dragged Dean out into the salvage yard. He would do his best to save his brother from Hell, but he was on his own when it came to Bobby.

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"Damn it, I could throttle you." Bobby half yelled, grabbing onto Dean's shoulders. He let go as the younger man gasped at the contact and shrank in on himself.

"Dean?"

The kid shook his head. "It's okay, just a parting gift from the demon I made the deal with." He straightened up.

"What'd she do?"

Dean shook his head. "He. Aparently I was out of her league. The guy fried her and took over the negotiations."

Bobby frowned. "That's… unusual." He shook his head. "Okay, let's see the damage." Dean hesitated. "It's either that, or I continue to chew on your ass." Bobby told him.

"Okay, okay, sheesh." He shugged his left arm out of his jacket and shirt and gingerly rolled up the sleave of his t-shirt. He sucked a pained breath of air in through his teeth as the material brushed against his arm.

"What in the Hell?" Bobby asked, his expression caught somewhere between horror and wonder.

Dean looked down with some surprise at the hand shaped burn mark on his shoulder. "I don't know, but getting it sure hurt like Hell." He laughed, but it was hollow. "If that was a taste of what's to come, then I have to say that I am well and truly screwed."

"Damn it, Dean." The sound of someone moving through the junk yard stopped Bobby from contining Dean's well deserved chewing out. The two of them dropped their argument and moved to intercept the intruder.

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Given what he'd heard about the roadhouse, Ellen was not on Sam's list of people likely to come walking in through Bobby's door. He was damn glad to see her though, and after Bobby ran her through a Holy water test, she provided them with a map Ash had left for them. Bobby earned his researcher status by figuring out what the x's on the map of Wyoming meant. Churches built by Samuel Colt that were connected by a series of railway lines. Bobby traced out the shape of them on the map.

"Tell me that's not what I think it is." Dean asked.

"It's a devil's trap." Sam answered, amazed. "A hundred square miles devil's trap."

"That's brilliant. Iron lines, demons can't cross." Dean added.

Watching them invisibly Castiel had to agree. He had heard of this devil's trap from time to time while in Dean and Sam's company. And he had of course heard about Samual Colt. Was unlikely to forget the man after the time travel, phoenix ash mess that had only worked itself out because of the gun maker.

Cas looked around the room, wondering why he was still shadowing the Winchesters. While his current warding was good, he should be using his time to strengthen the spells and set up a few safe houses. He already knew that the boys had survived to the end of the year and he didn't think he'd altered the time line enough to change that. They didn't need an unwanted angel sitting on their shoulder to make certain of it.

He really ought to leave.

And yet he still found himself sitting in the back of the Impala as they raced towards Wyoming.

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It was becoming more and more obvious that he was going to have to step back from the boys. He'd almost interfered a half dozen times or more since they'd stepped into the cemetery. As usual though, the Winchester's had come through in the end, killing Azazel with the help of their dead father's spirit and Colt's gun. They still had an escaped demon army to deal with and Lilith would no doubt become a problem before long, but for now they didn't need him.

However, he couldn't leave, not without clearing up at least one thing.

After they had all gotten back to Bobby's place and patched themselves up, Dean had ended up on the steps to the veranda. Beer in hand, he stared up into the sky and watched the stars fade away into morning's light.

"He was wrong, you know."

Dean swallowed the beer in his mouth, the liquid going down square, but still better than spitting it out would have been.

"It hasn't been a year and I really don't want to have to see you before then." Dean remaind sitting, refusing to look at the thing he'd sold his soul to.

He heard a sigh and the rustle of a coat as it sat down on the stairs beside him. "Fair enough. Though I still think you'd like to know that he was wrong."

Dean turned slightly to look at him. "Who was? About what?"

"Azazel, about Sam. About how certain were you that what came back was 100 per cent Sam." Ah, now he had Dean's full attention. "I would never bring anyone back again without making sure I had all of them. It's one recent lesson that I don't intend to forget or ignore." He gave a small snort of self-deprecating laughter. "At least, not a second time."

Dean put his beer bottle down beside him. "So you're saying…?"

"He's all there Dean, all Sam. Nothing has been added or taken away. Azazel was lying."

"And how do I know that you aren't. And why tell me anyway?"

Trench coated shoulders moved up in a shrug. "I suppose you don't and as for telling you… Consider it a matter of professional pride. I don't like having my work brought into question."

Dean picked up his beer bottle and took a drink of the now lukewarm liquid. He turned back to say something that he was certain would get him into trouble, but was saved by the fact that the deal demon had disappeared. Shaking his head he finished off his beer and headed back inside, hoping to catch a few hours sleep before the next disaster.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 2

Cas lasted all of a week before going back to check on the Winchesters. Finding them was simple. Because of the deal, he would be able to locate Dean anywhere. He arrived invisibly in a motel room, which wasn't much of a surprise. Dean and the two beautiful and athletic women with him were a little more startling, but only a little. Castiel watched them for about a minute, before coming to the conclusion that Dean was far more skilled at sex than the pizza man had been.

"Dean?"

Cas noticed Sam as the young man carefully cracked the door open and looked into the room.

"Oh, God." Sam retreated from the room rather quickly, which lead Cas to realize that watching was probably inappropriate. He popped outside and observed as Sam fought to not hyperventilate. Once he was sure that the younger Winchester was in no danger of passing out, he took his leave.

Over the next few weeks, Cas invisibly popped in several times to check on the Winchesters. He never stayed long. He spent the rest of the time making sure that he couldn't be found in this time, at least not by anyone other than his Father. There was no way he could ward himself that well. Any others though, be they angels, demons, or pagan gods, would be unable to sense him. Even standing in front of him, anything less powerful than a Seraphim level Archangel would not recognize what he was. That meant that a being at Michael's level or higher would, but they still wouldn't be able to tell exactly who he was without breaking the warding down. And after adding Heaven's weapons to his strength, it was unlikely they would be able to do so.

Once the warding was complete, he started on a couple of new projects. Safe houses and money. Bolt holes in case everything hit the fan and cash… well, it wasn't something he usually needed, but it had come up in the past a few times. The safe houses, essentially beautiful rooms, only with different decorating schemes, were simple enough to create. Money the honest way, that was a little harder.

He might never have thought of it if he hadn't found a penny on the floor of an old warehouse he was looking over as a potential room site. People lost money all the time. Usually small change, but that could add up, especially when you could search an area as fast as Cas could.

It took him a week to search the entire country. He hadn't seen any reason to rush. Most of what he collected were pennies, but he'd found bills as well. Largely ones and fives with a few tens and the occasional twenty dollar bill mixed in as well.

He spent another week rolling the change and counting it all. Yes, he could have done it much, much, much faster, but other than the room creation and checking up on Dean and Sam and occasionally Bobby, there wasn't anything he needed to be doing. At final count, the funds he'd collected came out to just a little over half a million dollars.

Not having used money much, he wondered if that was a particularly useful amount.

It certainly was heavy. Using banks across the country, he exchanged a majority of the rolled coins for paper money. Then he spread the funds out between the safe rooms he'd set up, keeping a reasonable amount of money on himself in case of emergency.

He was sure that 50,000 was reasonable, even if he had to compress it into a wallet that he'd created that could hold more than should physically be possible. He dropped it into a pocket of his trench coat and pretty much ignored it from then on.

* * *

><p>Sam crouched in the dirt, placed the box carefully into the hole and covered it over with earth and gravel. He stood and looked down each lane of the crossroads.<p>

"Sam Winchester."

Sam turned and felt his lips twist into a snarl. There was a crossroads demon standing there, but it wasn't the same guy as before. This one would have reminded him of a hound dog, if it weren't for the red in his droopy eyes.

"I was looking to deal with Cas."

The guy snorted and the red dropped out of his eyes, turning them the colour of long cold ash. "If that's the guy who took over your brother's deal, then you aren't the only one."

Sam looked at him, confusion and annoyance warring for dominance across his face. "What do you mean?"

The guy shook his head. "Let's just say that my boss ain't too happy that some over powered, bone headed demon, charcoal briquetted my predecessor to take over Dean's contract and then disappeared with it. He didn't even file any of the paperwork."

Paperwork in Hell… Sam gave his head a shake. No, that actually made sense.

"So, you're saying Dean's contract doesn't exist."

The demon out and out laughed. "Hell, no. I'm saying some high powered mucky, muck wants old Dean'o for himself. When that contract comes due, your brother's his own personal chew toy."

The sick, hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach that Sam had been living with for the last few weeks yawned open and it took almost everything he had not to double over and chuck up what he'd had for dinner that night.

He pulled the Colt out from where he'd tucked into the back of his jeans and aimed it at the demon. The guy put his hands up and shuffled back a half step. "Hey, shooting me's not going to get you anything."

"Who's Cas? I need a real name." With a name, he could summon him directly.

The demon shrugged. "You've got me."

"Then who would know?"

The guy shook his head. "I don't know. Hell, I think even the boss doesn't know and before you ask, no, you can't talk to him." He smirked at Sam's glare. "So, are we here to make a deal, or are you just blowing smoke?"

Sam nodded. "Smoke, definitely." Then he pulled the trigger.

The demon jerked as the bullet hit him between the eyes. He jerked again as it did its job, his body lighting up as the demonic essence in it was destroyed. The body jerked a third time and then dropped to the ground, dead.

Sam blew the smoke away from the muzzle of the gun and then pointed it down and slightly to the side as he looked at the dead body. He resisted the urge to growl at it and turned, leaving it in the middle of the crossroads. As he walked back to the car, he thought over his options.

There seemed to be only one left. He would have to try to summon the demon, even with an incomplete name. He'd have to wait until he could find a safe place to make the attempt. His best bet would be one of the abandoned properties near Bobby's place. He knew of one or two that were secure enough for the work.

* * *

><p>"You know, when this is over, we should really have angry sex." Cas blinked at the beautiful woman who said those words, and then turned in the same direction she was looking, blinking twice when he took in Dean, wearing a tuxedo. He had seen the hunter in a suit many times before. It was his standard costuming when impersonating a federal officer after all. However, none of them had looked like this.<p>

Looking intrigued, and then slightly embarrassed, Dean crossed his arms over his chest. "Don't objectify me."

As they left, Cas wondered if he should follow them, and then decided against it. From the sounds of things, whatever was happening had a high chance of becoming inappropriate to watch.

Although he knew that sex was often seen as a private thing, he wasn't sure why it was all right to watch the pizza man on television, but it was apparently an awkward enough thing that even he felt it when it came to real life. He shook his head, suspecting it had something to do with the personal space rule.

* * *

><p>Ruby narrowed her eyes at Sam. "Why?"<p>

"Because, I'm going after the demon that's holding Dean's contract. Apparently he's keeping it to himself because…"

Ruby winced. "I'd heard his contract wasn't showing up through the normal channels." The expression on her face told him she felt she ought to tell him something, but really didn't want to.

"What, what is it?"

"Sam, a demon, especially a high powered one, taking a personal interest in Dean… Let's just say, I wouldn't want to be your brother when his deal comes due."

"Yeah, that's kind of what I was afraid of. So, will you lend me the knife?"

Ruby shook her head. "You've already got the Colt, you don't need this as well."

"Probably not, but if I'm going to do this, then I want to go in with everything." He could see that she was wavering. "If you're worried about the knife, you could always come with me and help."

Sam would be lying if he said that he was surprised when Ruby laughed at the suggestion. Still, it got him the desired result. She pulled the knife out, sheath and all and handed it to him. "Sorry Sam, you're on your own for this one. Just make sure you get it back to me." She gave him a little glare. "In other words, don't get killed."

"Didn't know you cared so much."

"Yeah, yeah."

* * *

><p>They had been with Bobby for a few days now, healing up from a run in with a couple of pagan gods with a Christmas fetish. They were planning on hanging out until after the New Years, intending to help the older hunter celebrate with copious amounts of liquor. Or at least, Dean was.<p>

To that end, he was finishing up a supply run. He had enough beer, whiskey and junk food filling the Impala to feed and inebriate twenty people. Dean figured that it would last the three of them until the morning of January 2nd.

It was already dark by the time Dean got back to Bobby's place. He parked as close to the back door as he could and grabbed one of the cases of beer and a couple of bags of groceries. He dropped them off in the kitchen and gave a holler for some help before going out for a second load.

"Dean."

"Oh, hey Bobby, I've got more in the car…"

"Dean, never mind the groceries, have you seen your brother?"

"I thought Sammy said something about the library."

"Yeah, well if that's where he ended up, then he took a couple of my books and some of my supplies with him."

Dean dropped the bags he was holding on the counter next to the sink. "And what could one do with those books and supplies."

Bobby grimaced slightly. "Summon something."

Dean's eyes fell closed for a moment. "Crap. Crapity, crap, crap." He bolted out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

Bobby followed him to the bottom of the staircase. His grimace got worse as he heard Dean banging around in the room he was sharing with his brother and swearing.

"He took the Colt with him." Dean said from the top of the stairs. Bobby got out of his way as he came back down. "Any place specific he'd have to do it?"

Bobby shook his head. "Nah, just private." He thought for a moment. "There's a couple of places nearby that are abandoned. He might have gone to one of them." Dean nodded and pulled out his cell phone, hitting Sam's number. He ran through a few more curses when it went to voice mail.

"What do you thinks he's trying to summon?"

Dean stuffed his phone back into his pocket. "I think he's going to try to raise the demon that made the deal with me. Problem is, unless he knows something I don't, then he doesn't have its real name."

"Crap."

"Yep."

Bobby sighed, went over to his desk and quickly wrote down some directions on a piece of scrap paper. "Here, you take this one, I'll check out the other place."

* * *

><p>Castiel arrived invisibly in the back seat of the Impala and found himself jammed up against two cases of beer and several grocery bags filled with potato chips. A glance into the front of the car showed him that Dean was alone, and driving much to fast.<p>

Dean growled and slapped one of his hands against the steering wheel. "Dammit Sammy."

Wondering if the two brothers had had a fight or if something more serious was going on, Cas reached out with his senses to find Sam. Without the Enochian warding he'd placed on them in another time the young man was easy to locate.

What he was doing however… That truly shocked the angel.

* * *

><p>The ingredients were in the bowl and the words were said. Sam took a deep breath, lit the match and held it over the bowl before dropping it.<p>

He wasn't expecting the hand that caught it and snuffed it out half way to its destination.

"Are you insane?"

The trench coat wearing demon that had made Dean's deal was standing in front of him, looking extremely pissed off. The early arrival caught Sam flatfooted. He hadn't had the chance to pick up the Colt from where it was lying next to the bowl. He scrambled for it, fingers just touching the handle before the demon power flung him half the length of the barn he was using. Sam twisted with the throw, managing to take the fall more on his side than his back. It still hurt, but nothing was seriously damaged.

He levered himself into a sitting position as the deal demon stepped around the table Sam had set up his altar on and stalked towards the downed hunter. "Do you know what could have happened if you'd finished the summons with an incomplete name?" Still angry, the demon swept the bowl off the table behind him with a wave of his hand, scattering the ingredients across the wood flooring and rendering them useless. "Off the top of my head I can think of at least two entities that could have answered it, and both of them would have burned your eyes out simply by appearing before you."

Sam looked at him, stunned. "Why the hell do you care?"

He never got an answer. The sound of the Impala pulling up outside the barn announced Dean's arrival. Cas threw a look towards the other hunter as he entered, gun drawn. The tableau of an angry demon standing over his brother froze Dean in his tracks and the two of them stared at each other for a few precious moments.

It gave Sam the time to pull Ruby's knife from the sheath at his side.

With one move he was up and jamming the blade into the demon's chest. The blow was hard enough that it should have staggered him, but the trench-coated form didn't even move an inch.

Cas stared down at the knife jutting out from his chest and then back to Sam's face. At any other time he would have been mad at Sam for stabbing him, but this was too much like the first time he'd met Dean. With a wry little smile, he wrapped his hand around the hilt of the blade. Pulling it out, he let it fall to the ground.

Disturbed by the smile on his face, and the fact that the knife didn't affect him, Sam took a step back from Cas even as Dean moved forward. The older brother pulled the younger one behind him and squared off against the demon. Dean didn't want to admit it, but the fact that the guy seemed amused by having been stabbed by the big time magic knife scared Dean in ways he didn't want to contemplate.

"Look, he didn't mean anything by it."

The guy raised an eyebrow at that statement and yeah, Dean had to admit, it was both lame and untrue. He heaved out a breath of air. "He was just trying to help me. If you have to take that out on anyone, then take it out on me."

"Dean, no."

"Shut up, Sam." Dean growled out and manoeuvred his body so that his brother couldn't manage to get in front of him again. A glance back at the demon showed him that the guy was once more working towards annoyed. Dean locked his eyes with him, almost jerking back when he felt a feathery touch… not so much against his skin, as inside of himsef.

Dean came close to giving up breathing. He felt something in him connect to the trench-coated figure in front of him. If he had tended towards chick flick moments, he might have called it a bond. Since he didn't, his first reaction was to panic. His thoughts and intentions had suddenly been laid open to another being. Dean tried to shut his brain down, empty it of anything important, but it was too late. He didn't know if what Sam had done could be considered an attempt by Dean to weasel out of the deal. If it were… Dean couldn't offer to give up the time he had left. Was nearly physically incapable of doing that, despite the fact that he kept taking stupid chances with his life. However, he could feel that the demon now knew that if he were to demand it of him as the only way to stop Sam from dying again, he would do it without question.

Cas broke eye contact with him first. If Dean hadn't known better, he'd have almost thought that the guy looked, ashamed.

"Sam."

The younger Winchester jerked as the demon said his name. "Yeah?"

"Do you really want to help your brother?"

"No!" Dean cried out. "No Sammy, do not make a deal with him."

"Sam?"

Sam looked at his brother, and then steeled himself. "Yes, yes I want to help my brother."

Dean made a frustrated sound that didn't really translate into English.

Cas fixed his gaze on the younger brother. "Then read his contract over first." He glanced back at the ruined altar. "By the way, if you try to summon me like that again, I'll burn your eyes out myself."

Sam swallowed, hard. "Wait. How am I supposed to read Dean's contract?"

The demon frowned slightly. "Dean has a copy."

Sam glared at his brother, but Dean just looked confused. "I do?"

"Yes. I etched it into your soul."

And with that, he was gone.

A/N: Cas finding about half a million dollars in lost money by searching the entire country is probably a very conservative amount. I just didn't want to over do it. Also, I've wanted to use the idea for awhile, so I do so here.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 3

Sam's mouth hung open and Dean had an arm wrapped around his own stomach, a sick expression on his face.

"He tagged my soul? "

Sam didn't know what to say to that and the two of them might have stayed there staring at each other for some time, if the sounds of Led Zeppelin hadn't started playing from the pocket of Dean's jeans.

Both men jolted slightly when the phone went off and Dean quickly pulled it out to answer it. "Bobby…" Dean's voice came out rough and he cleared it and tried again. "Hey Bobby, yeah, I found him. The summons?" Dean looked at Sam, who shrugged. "That's a little complicated. What, no, no, we're okay. We'll meet you back at your place." Dean paused a moment, not sure how to phrase the question he wanted to ask the older hunter. Giving up, he simply charged ahead, Dean style. "Hey Bobby… Do you know any spells that will let you read someone's soul?"

* * *

><p>"Okay." Bobby said, pacing the area in front of his desk. "Just to make sure I've got this straight. You," he pointed at Sam. "Were stupid enough to try to summon a demon without knowing its real name." Sam squirmed under Bobby's gaze, but didn't say anything. "Only before you could complete it, he shows up anyways and stops you."<p>

Sam frowned. "Yeah, it was… weird. He actually sounded worried that I could have gotten hurt."

Dean snorted. "Yeah, so worried that he threatened to burn your eyes out if you did it again."

Sam winced at his brother's statement, but didn't say anything.

"The knife didn't work." Dean shot his brother a look. "And just how did you happen to have Ruby's knife with you anyway?"

Sam shrugged. "Borrowed it."

Before Dean could ask anything else, Bobby took over the questioning. "Didn't it work at all?"

Dean grimaced. "He seemed to find it funny."

"Well, that's comforting. What about the Colt?"

Sam shook his head. "Didn't get the chance to use it."

"Okay, so after all that, he tells you that if you want to help your brother you need to read Dean's contract first. Only, you can't, 'cause apparently the guy carved the particulars into Dean's soul."

Dean nodded. "Yeah, that about sums it up. So, know any spells or rituals that'll let us read this puppy.

Bobby sighed. "I'll start looking."

* * *

><p>Feeling that Sam and blonde demons shouldn't mix, Dean took his brother's place when he was supposed to meet up with Ruby. He stayed only long enough to hand her back her knife, neglecting to tell her that it hadn't worked on the crossroads demon at all.<p>

By the time Sam met up with her again, he didn't think to mention it either.

* * *

><p>The next few times that Castiel quietly checked up on the Winchesters he noticed that they still hadn't read Dean's contract. A check in on Bobby proved that the older hunter was using his time between hunts researching souls. It took a second visit to realize that he was looking for a way to read the human soul.<p>

That... didn't make any sense. Doing it that way would be very painful for Dean. Much along the same lines as Cas shoving his hand in and checking that way. Why didn't Dean simply sit down and write it out? All he would have to do to access it would be to relax and clear his…

Cas made a fist and clunked himself on his forehead. He'd know Dean how long now? When had he ever seen the man truly relax.

* * *

><p>Castiel walked down the steps of the stadium. He knew just enough about sports to know that the game being played on the field below was called baseball, but not much else. He stopped long enough to collect two glasses of beer and a bag of peanuts from an attendant before heading down one of the aisles.<p>

Dean looked up at him as he offered him one of the plastic cups of beer. He took it with a nod and turned back to the game. Cas sat down beside him and sipped at his own drink, waiting. Dean took a long drink of his beer and set the glass down in a cup holder. He watched the game for another minute.

"I'm dreaming, aren't I?"

Cas nodded. "Yes. And before you ask, yes, I really am here."

Dean licked his lips, his mouth suddenly dry despite the beer. "And you're here because?"

Cas pulled a few sheets of paper, held together with a paperclip, out of one of his coat pockets. He presented it to Dean. "Here, it's a paper copy of your contract. If I'd realized you were having so much trouble reading yours I would have given it to you sooner."

Moving carefully, Dean took the papers from him. "Thank you." He said, rather stiffly.

"You are welcome." Cas replied, watching the game rather than looking at Dean. He frowned at what was happening on the field. "Do they have touchdowns in this game, or goals?"

Dean snapped awake before he could answer him.

* * *

><p>Dean paced back and forward in the limited space provided by their motel room while Sam was doing a speaker phone conference with Bobby and searching his computer at the same time. The older Winchester gave the sheets of paper next to Sam an annoyed look. You'd think if somebody were going to go to all of the trouble of invading your dreams to give you something, he'd make sure it was in English and not some weird sort of code.<p>

Bobby looked at the pictures of the contract that Sam had just sent, a dumbfounded expression on his face. He got up and pulled a book out of one of the piles behind him to see if what he thought he was seeing was right, or if he'd finally gone senile.

"This don't make a lick of sense."

"What doesn't Bobby?" Sam asked, his voice coming over the speakerphone.

"The contract's in Enochian. What kind of demon writes a contract in angelic script?"

"One with a sick sense of humour." Dean yelled out.

Bobby had to admit, Dean probably had a point.

"This'll take awhile to translate. You boys had better work on your copy as well. Less chance of screwing it up if we have two translations to compare. Also, I've got a hunt and no one I can fob it off on. Don't worry though, I'll keep working on this at the same time."

"Thanks Bobby."

"Thanks man."

* * *

><p>Bobby walked through the darkened house, flashlight in hand. A sound had him looking behind him, but there was nothing there. He turned back and opened a set of sliding pocket doors, revealing a kitchen that was clean and probably inviting in daylight. Right now though…<p>

Screaming, clawing, it jumped him. Too fast, too strong. Bobby couldn't do anything to stop it. It beat him into the floor, barely gave him a moment to breath and none to think.

"Bobby!"

The hunter gasped as he was suddenly freed. Using the nearby table, he managed to get to his feet. He stared uncomprehendingly at what he saw once he was upright.

The clawing, screaming thing was… his wife. A man, with dark hair and wearing a trench coat was holding her up against the kitchen's refrigerator. Bobby was a little slow on the uptake at the moment, but he knew well enough who the man had to be by Sam and Dean's descriptions of him.

"You're Cas, aren't you?"

"Yes."

Bobby's wife tried to get at the other demon's eyes and he slammed her against the fridge to discourage her.

"Hey." Sure, she was possessed, but still.

"You have to wake up Bobby."

"What?"

"You're dreaming."

Bobby shook his head. "No."

"How long ago did your wife die, Singer?" The question was harsh and had Bobby itching to put a blade in the man in front of him.

Apparently growing tired of dealing with demon Mrs. Singer trying to scratch his eyes out, Cas shoved with the hand that he was holding on to her with. White light flashed from her eyes and mouth and her face went slack. Horrified, Bobby watched as the deal demon didn't so much let her go, as stopped holding her up. Her body dropped to the floor in the boneless manner that only the dead are capable of.

"You bastard." A knife suddenly in his hand, Bobby leapt at the demon.

If it had been any other situation, the hunter would have admired the grace the other man used in disarming him.

"If you're not dreaming, then were did you get this knife. You didn't have it a moment ago."

Bobby paused. No, he hadn't had it. Weapons and possible weapons were something hunters kept track of automatically. He knew he had been completely unarmed, except for the flashlight, since he'd entered the house.

Which, made no sense. Even when he was relaxing at home, he always had at least a knife on him.

"I'm dreaming?"

"Yes, now wake up, before they drag you off to the hospital."

* * *

><p>Bobby gasped and sat up, scaring the ever-living hell out of the chambermaid that was standing over him.<p>

"Oh, God, I'm sorry. I thought maybe you were…" She trailed off, obviously not comfortable with saying that she thought he might be dead.

"No, no." Bobby said, trying to calm her down. "I'm afraid I'm a really heavy sleeper. Thank you for worrying thought."

It took him a few more minutes to get her out of the room. Once he had, Bobby headed to the bathroom to answer the call of nature. If the room's clock was right, he'd been asleep for close to twelve hours.

* * *

><p>Dean was watching his little brother get drunk and bitch about his older brother not helping with the translation and not wanting to be saved when Bobby called. Glad for anything to keep Sammy's mind off Dean's ever-looming deadline, he bundled his brother up and headed for Pittsburgh.<p>

When they got there, they found Bobby in a hotel room, surrounded by the piles of his research and strung out on way too much coffee.

"Dude, don't you think you should, I don't know, sleep maybe?"

Bobby gave a laugh. "That's the last thing I should do, 'cause it probably would be the last thing I do."

Bobby had been investigating the death of a professor who was conducting experiments with a plant known as African dream root. Apparently, the stuff lets you go walking in other people's dreams. Take enough of it and you could control someone's dreams as well, even up to the point were you could kill them from inside the dream.

"All the user needs to do is add a little DNA from their target. Unfortunately for me, before I knew it was him, he offered me a beer." Bobby's face twisted up in disgust at himself. "I drank it. Dumbest friggin' thing."

He pulled out a file. "Jeremy Frost. Full on genius, 160 IQ. Which is saying something, given his dad took a baseball bat to his head." He picked up a photo from the table and handed it to Sam. "Here's father of the year. He died before Jeremy was ten. Anyway, the injuries left the kid unable to dream, at least until he became part of the experiment."

Sam looked at the photo of the father and then passed it to Dean. "Sweet guy." Dean frowned. "Hey Bobby, if this Jeremy was controlling your dream, how did you get out?"

The older man hesitated for a moment. "Well, it turns out that your dreams aren't the only ones 'your' Cas can visit."

Dean crossed his arms over his chest, annoyed. "He's not 'my' Cas. He's a freaking scary pain in the ass who apparently intends to roast mine. That's not exactly the bases for becoming best buds."

"Yeah." Bobby said, agreeing. "Which makes me worry. He keeps popping in and being useful. There's got to be something more he wants."

Dean's expression could have been carved from stone. "Yeah, well whatever it is, he isn't getting it."

* * *

><p>After two days of looking for Jeremy and coming up empty, Bobby was obviously close to the end of his rope. If he didn't sleep soon he'd go stark raving nuts.<p>

"Okay." Dean said. "Enough's enough. If we can't beat him then I say we join him."

Sam and Bobby both looked at Dean, confusion on one face, exhaustion on the other.

"Here's what we need to do." Dean said, continuing. "We score some of this dream root and Sam and I take it."

"Uh, why?" His brother asked him.

"So we can go into Bobby's dreams and take Jeremy out. Let's face it, the only way we're going to find this guy fast enough is in there."

"That's a terrible idea." Bobby told him.

Dean nodded. "Yeah, I know, but do we really have any other choice."

Bobby sighed. "Can't say I can think of any."

"One problem." Sam said. "Where do we get the dream root from?"

Dean thought for a moment. "Oh, crap."

"What?"

"Bela."

Sam frowned at him for a moment before he got it. "Ah, crap."

"Yep."

"Don't we have any other options?"

Dean shook his head. "The only other 'person', and I use that term loosely, that we know that can go walking around in other people's dreams is Cas. And I mean, can you see that happening?"

Despite the situation, Sam had to chuckle.

Dean nodded in agreement. "Just think of it. Me saying something like, Hey, Cas. I know you intend to drag me off to Hell, but I was wondering if you could do me a favour by taking me and Sam into Bobby's head so we can capture his dream stalker."

"That sounds to be a rather dangerous undertaking."

Dean spun around and moved back a step from his own trench coated boogeyman. Sam and Bobby both shot to their feet, their hands on the closest weapons available. Unfortunately for them that didn't include the Colt, as it was locked in the room's safe.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Dean asked, none too quietly.

The demon frowned. "You asked for my help."

"And you actually came?" Dean asked, his voice cracking slightly.

"I feel I owe you a boon, in recompense for the misunderstanding with the contract."

"Right." There was not a lot of trust in Dean's voice.

Cas shrugged.

"Ah, no offence." Bobby told him. "But I really don't want you in my head again."

The demon stared at him for a moment, before nodding. "I understand. I could send the boys in without me."

The three of them looked at each other, and then back to Cas. "How much control would we have?" Sam asked.

"How much would you like?"

* * *

><p>Sam and Dean found themselves in a pleasantly furnished home. It took them a few moments to realize that it was Bobby's place, only nicer.<p>

"Bobby?" Dean called out.

"In here."

They found him in the kitchen, staring down at the body of a young woman.

"Bobby, who..?"

The older man blinked back tears. "She was my wife. She got possessed and I didn't know then what I know now. She was insane, rabid and I stabbed her trying to protect myself. It didn't stop her of course, but then Rufus showed up and did the exorcism…" He felt each of the Winchester's grab onto one of his shoulder's and give it a squeeze.

"God, Bobby, I am so sorry. We never knew." Dean said.

Bobby shrugged and knuckled the dampness from his eyes. "Well, everybody got into hunting somehow. Now come on, let's find that yahoo and get this over with."

* * *

><p>Since they didn't want him in the room with them while they were unconscious, Castiel had set a time delay into the Sleep for Bobby and the Dream Walking for Sam and Dean. Once he'd left, the three men had demon proofed the room. This couldn't keep him out, but he let them believe that it did. Besides, he didn't need to be in the room with them to keep track of how they were doing.<p>

Dean had apparently gotten separated from them, and was wandering some strange hallway. Bobby and Sam had actually found the stalker. Sam was closing the trap while Bobby distracted Jeremy by taking on the form of the Father that had nearly beaten him to death with a baseball bat as a child. It should be over shortly.

He refocused on Dean just as horror and darkness seemed to swallow the hunter whole.

* * *

><p>"You can't escape me Dean. You're going to die, and this, this is what you're going to become." Eyes black and covered in blood, the demonic version of Dean leapt at human Dean, only to be stopped short as a hand grabbed him by the head. Human Dean raised a hand to shield his eyes as a white light burst from the demon's eyes and mouth.<p>

When his vision cleared, he found Cas standing beside the demon's body. The expression on his face was pained.

"Dean, we need to talk."

Dean staggered back a step as he heard the same words the other Dean had said twice to him. He shook his head, but didn't have the chance to say anything.

In real life, Jeremy Frost gasped and died in his sleep. Several miles away from him, in a hotel room with some of the most frightening wallpaper ever printed covering the walls, three men snapped awake.

Cas sighed as he found himself standing in the lobby of the hotel. He was going to have to tell Dean the truth, or at least some of it. He hadn't until now, because the longer he could make things look as if they were still the same, the better his chances were to change them and make it stick. However, given what he'd just seen… If he didn't tell him soon, Dean wouldn't actually have to go to Hell to be there.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 4

Sam sat listlessly in the booth as Dean happily chowed down on his… Sam thought for a moment. Twenty-third, if you didn't count the times they hadn't made it out of the room before Dean died this would be the twenty-third time Dean had ordered the Pig in a Poke Tuesday special.

"Ow." Dean dropped his fork and grabbed his left shoulder. Sam frowned, that was new… Unless it was just a fresh way for him to die.

Out of the corner of his eye, the younger Winchester noticed one of the men sitting at the counter turned to look at Dean. He also appeared to be frowning.

"Ah." Dean grit his teeth. "What the Hell?" He shucked the left arm of his jacket and over shirt off and pulled up the sleeve of his t-shirt. The handprint that had been burned there by the crossroads demon was red and inflamed.

Sam heard the sound of a fork hitting the floor and turned to look at the man at the counter, who was staring at Dean's shoulder in shock. Eyes narrowing, Sam started to stand. "Hey."

The guy's eyes locked with Sam's for a moment and then…

Sam's eyes snapped opened and he sat up as the sounds of Asia started to play from the radio beside Dean's bed.

"Rise and shine Sammy!"

Sam leapt out of the bed and grabbed his brother by his shirt.

"Sam, what the hell?" Dean struggled, trying to pull himself out of his brother's grip.

"Your shoulder."

"What?"

"Check the burn mark on your shoulder."

"Okay, okay. Let go."

Sam released him and backed off. Looking at him as if he'd completely lost it, Dean stripped off his over shirt and pulled up the sleeve of his t-shirt.

"Ow." Dean poked at it carefully. It was red and irritated. He was surprised that he hadn't noticed that it was hurting until now.

"Sam, how did you know…?"

The air made a cracking sound. Like glass breaking mixed with thunder. A trench-coated form appeared and took two staggering steps before looking around the room.

"That was more difficult than it should have been."

Dean pulled the Colt out and pointed it at Cas.

Sam looked at his brother in horror. "You had that under your pillow?" It was a miracle that Dean hadn't managed to kill himself extra permanently during one of the redoes.

Dean gave Sam an odd glance. "Where else would I keep it?" Then he trained his gaze back to the demon, who was looking at the gun with some trepidation.

"So tell me, if I actually managed to kill you with this, would the weasel out of the contract clause actually manage to come into effect?"

"I believe that was covered on page three of your contract."

The two Winchesters shifted uncomfortably and Cas frowned at them. "Have you still not read it?"

"We're having trouble with the translation." Sam told him.

Cas sighed. "Yes, it would constitute weaselling out of the contract and there are safeguards in place to finish it, even if I am unable to do so personally." He hadn't wanted to put that article into it, but it wouldn't have been taken seriously if he hadn't.

Dean glared at him, but lowered the gun. For some reason, he chose that moment to realize that the music on the clock radio had changed and he reached out and hit the snooze button. Every other day he had hit the off button.

The radio short-circuited dramatically, sending ridiculous amounts of electricity through Dean's body, killing him on the spot.

Sam gasped awake and sat up to the sound of Asia playing on the clock radio.

"Rise and shine Sammy."

Sam stood, reached under Dean's pillow and pulled out the Colt. He then carefully unplugged the clock radio, picked it up and tossed it across the room, shattering it against the far wall. He sat back down on his own bed and aimed the gun on an empty area of the room.

Dean sat on his own bed, staring at his brother in shock. "Sam?"

The air cracked, this time sounding more like wood splitting. A trench-coated figure staggered forward one step and then looked around the room. He focused his attention on Sam and the gun.

"You killing me is covered on page four of the contract."

"Are you doing this?" Sam asked, clearly angry.

"No." He looked at Dean. "What exactly is happening? Something was trying to hide you from me. In fact, I'm not sure I could have found you without using your mark as a beacon." Dean looked at his left shoulder and poked it, wincing slightly when he did.

"Dean keeps dying."

Cas nodded.

"What do you mean, I keep dying?"

"Your contract keeps completing and resetting. It is very annoying. Also, the day keeps restarting every time it happens."

Sam lowered the gun slightly. "You remember all the days?"

Cas shook his head. "Only some. I suspect it took ten or more times before the resettings built up enough for me to notice."

"Wait, wait, wait. You're saying we're being Groundhog Day'd?" Dean asked.

Cas frowned. He remembered something about that. About sitting in a motel room watching television with the boys in a moment between disasters. A movie, called Groundhog Day had come on and Sam had changed the channel, saying he couldn't stand to watch the thing after being stuck in a time loop by…

Cas opened his mouth to say a name, and then quickly shut it. He thought for a moment before trying again.

"Loki! I know you're the one doing this. Show yourself."

Sam and Dean both stood up and searched the room with their eyes.

Nothing.

Cas took a deep breath. "If you don't show yourself, then I will start calling you by your original name and I will tell your older brother where to find you."

"Yeah, well, I'm pretty sure he's your brother too."

All three of them turned towards the door to see a man standing there. A man they all recognized, but for different reasons.

"You."

"Yes Sam, me." The trickster smirked at them and then looked at Cas. "Interesting company you've been keeping boys."

Dean threw Cas a look. "Not by choice."

Cas threw the look back at him, but didn't say anything.

"Why are you doing this?" Sam asked, levelling the Colt at him.

"Well, it's fun, for one thing." He said, smiling at Sam's glower.

"Ga.., Loki, the gun he's holding on you has a higher than usual chance of killing you." Cas told him. He wasn't absolutely certain that it would work on the archangel, since it hadn't worked on Lucifer. Still, there were probably variables that he was unaware of when it came to that gun.

"So, what are you saying, bro?"

"Speak plainly."

The trickster gave him a disgusted look. "Fine. I'm just passing on a lesson."

"What lesson." Sam asked him through clenched teeth.

"That you can't save your brother, ever."

The hand holding the Colt twitched slightly towards Castiel, and then steadied on the trickster.

Loki ignored him and looked Castiel over. "So, which one of my siblings are you, anyway? 'Cause I've got to say, that's some mighty fine warding you've got going on. If I hadn't seen your mark on old Dean'o there, even I might not have realized what you are."

"Do you think I'd tell you after going to this much trouble to hide?"

Loki shrugged. "Worth a try."

"Hey." Dean said, waving a hand at 'Loki'.

The trickster sighed. "What?"

"You called him bro. How do a trickster god and a crossroads demon end up being brothers?"

Loki started to laugh. It went on for so long that even Cas was losing patience with him, and he was at least acquainted with Gabriel's sense of humour.

"Oh, man. You told them you were a crossroads demon?"

Cas sighed. "No, they merely assumed I was."

Loki continued to chuckle. "Why would they do that?"

Dean looked from Cas to Loki. "Maybe because he's the guy who bought my soul in exchange for Sam's life?"

Loki stopped laughing.

"What?"

Cas sighed again.

Sam turned to look at him. "You're not a demon?"

"I never said I was."

"But… if you're not a demon, why would you buy Dean's soul?"

Cas froze for a moment. This would have been a good time to tell Dean the truth. However, blowing Gabriel's cover right now was probably a bad idea and there was no telling what his brother would do if he did. He searched his mind for another answer. The one he came up with wasn't the best, but it was what he had planned to do with the purgatory souls.

"Souls are power."

Loki's mouth fell open. "You're not serious."

Cas just looked at him.

"What." Sam asked, looking from one of them to the other. "What does he do with the souls? What…" He looked at his brother. "What will he do with Dean's soul?"

"I take them into myself. They are… my power."

Dean looked very wobbly. In truth, Sam didn't look much better. Already Cas was regretting not going with the simple truth.

The trickster looked at the three of them in turn. "You… you do know who they are, don't you?"

Cas gave a huff of laughter. "Yes."

Sam and Dean looked at each other. Dean shrugged and they turned back to the other men.

Loki shook his head. "That's one hell of a dangerous game you're playing, bro."

Cas' laugh this time was longer, but pained. "You should have seen my last one."

The trickster pulled in a deep breath. "Look, I can understand wanting to hide from the rest of the family. Hell, as you obviously know, I'm doing it myself. But trust me; even if big brother doesn't figure this out, there is no way Dad will…"

Cas shook his head. "He's why I'm here."

Loki's eyes widened in shock. "What?"

Cas sighed. "I…" He shot the Winchesters a look. "I ask him for guidance about… about my last game. After he bounced something off my head he showed me what would come of it and offered this as one of the options for fixing it. I decided to take it."

Castiel suspected he should savour this moment. He had just struck Gabriel speechless.

It didn't last.

"What was your last game?"

Cas shook his head.

"Hey bro, you want me to leave these two knuckleheads alone, then I want to know at least that much."

Cas closed his eyes for a moment. "I, along with someone else, who shall remain nameless, attempted to find a way to open purgatory." Cas sighed. "We came pretty close, before I gave it up for this."

"Holy..."

"I take it that's bad?" Dean asked.

Gabriel looked at him as if he were an idiot, which meant he looked at him like he usually did. "Yeah, if your definition of bad covers extinguishing all life from the known universe."

Castiel suddenly found the Colt aimed at him. He froze, staring at Sam for a few heartbeats before nodding. He would accept such a judgement from the young man. In that vision of the future, he'd seen exactly what he'd done to him in his pursuit for power.

That Sam didn't pull the trigger surprised him no end.

"I need an English translation of the contract."

Castiel's eyebrows rose at the request, but he nodded. Several sheets of paper fluttered down out of nowhere, to land on one of the beds.

The movement distracted Sam and Dean for just a moment. When they looked back, both of the trickster gods were gone.

* * *

><p>"Hey Sam, wake up!"<p>

Sam's eyes opened and he sat up quickly. "What? No Asia?"

Dean looked at him from where he was brushing his teeth. "You broke the clock radio yesterday, remember?"

Sam looked around the room. "Uh, yeah" Unsure that anything had actually changed, he had to ask. "It is Wednesday today, isn't it?"

Dean finished rinsing out his mouth and spat the water back out. "All day."

Searching the room, Sam found the English translation for Dean's contract sitting beside his laptop. Flipping past the first, introductory page, he found a note attached to the contract and pulled it off to read it.

'Sam, if you make it to Wednesday, then don't let your brother out of your sight. Not until Thursday. And get out of town. Cas.'

The note disintegrated in his hand. Startled he let go of it, watching as it was reduced to pieces so small he could no longer see them.

* * *

><p>Cas watched invisibly as the two hunters packed up and made it safely out of town. When he moved to leave, he was unsurprised to find Gabriel standing beside him.<p>

"I don't know what's going on bro, but I do know that none of what's to come can be changed."

Cas refrained from laughing. It would only make his brother ask him questions he wouldn't answer. Instead, he asked him a question.

"Why do you say that?"

"Oh, I don't know, because it's been the plan since forever? The end is set in stone. So it was written, so it must be."

Cas felt his lips quirk briefly in a small smile. "Stone breaks, Gabriel and writers… they change their minds about what they've written all the time." His next smile was just a little bit wider. "Sometimes, a better idea comes along and the old one has to make way for it." Now he did give a short bark of laughter. "And sometimes, you make it up as you go along. "

Gabriel narrowed his eyes at his brother. "You know something. I mean, more than what you've already said. "

Cas smiled again, but it was a sad one. "I know that freedom is a very hard thing to get right."

Gabriel watched him go as he flew away.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

New author's note: Just to clarify some misunderstanding. As far as Ruby knows, Cas is alive. What she doesn't know is that her knife had no effect on him. Since Sam only took it as backup, she probably assumes that he didn't even get a chance to use it.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 5

The contract had quite a few surprises. To start with, it turned out that if Sam died at anytime during the year, he would be brought back, as there would be no point in Dean keeping his end of the bargain if his brother were already dead. There was even a baker's dozen clause. After the end of the year, he had one more free resurrection before he was on his own.

Anything Dean attempted to do that would get him out of the deal would be considered weaselling. And that included killing the contract holder. However, it wouldn't have killed Sam. Instead, it would have dropped him into a coma, the length of which was at the discretion of the contract holder. An undisclosed, preset length had been set in case the contract holder wasn't alive to do it.

Sam killing Cas to free his brother from the contract would automatically activate the end of the deal. With Cas gone, Dean's soul would, upon the hunter's death, go to Cas' father, who was unnamed.

An attempted killing could be excused if the contract holder chose not to pursue it. Which, obviously, he hadn't.

If Cas had died by any hand other than the Winchesters, then Dean's soul would have been free. Assassination by a friend doing it for them or a hired party was considered by their hand, so they were out of luck there.

The manner in which Dean would die was not specified. Although apparently he would begin to 'pierce the veil' whatever that meant, for a half day before the contract came due.

Sitting in the passenger seat of the Impala, Sam paged through the work again. He was certain that if he hadn't had an education in law that he would be completely lost. It was no surprise that translating it had been so difficult. The English version was bad enough. Even with what he did know, teasing the information out of this thing was a long and tedious undertaking. He couldn't stop though. Somewhere in here there had to be something that could save Dean.

He put the papers down and rubbed at his eyes for a moment. "Where exactly are we going to meet Bela?"

"Monument, Colorado."

"Okay, why are we going to meet Bela?"

Dean threw his brother a disgusted look. "I already told you Sammy. She says she needs help with something. And out of the goodness of our hearts we…"

"Dean."

"Okay, okay. We help her, she owes us. Next time we need something, I'd rather deal with her than… than the guy who intends to eat my soul."

"Okay. Can't blame you there."

* * *

><p>When Bela didn't answer the knock at her hotel room door, they decided that standing in the hallway was more uncomfortable than they liked. A short period of time with Dean's lock picks later had them sliding into the room. As usual, it was very plush. They were just making themselves comfortable when the phone rang.<p>

Dean picked up the receiver, but didn't say anything.

"Dean, sweetie, are you there."

"Bela, hey. Where are you?"

"I really am sorry, but this was the only way I could think of to keep you occupied." She told them as she picked the lock to the Impala's trunk. Quickly she started to search through their equipment.

Dean stiffened and caught Sam's eyes with his own. "What did you do Bela?"

"Let's just say, I invited some old friends of yours to the party." Her searching became more frantic when she couldn't find what she was looking for.

"Uh huh. Bela, just so you know. I never leave home without the Colt."

Her swearing would have been a lot more enjoyable if the cops hadn't come bursting into the room right then.

And of course, there was Henricksen.

* * *

><p>Bela slid into the police station storage room through the window. She could hear a helicopter arriving. It didn't give her much time to find the items they must have confiscated from the Winchesters when they'd been arrested.<p>

* * *

><p>Castiel was attempting to craft an Enochian spell that would repel telemarketers. So far, he wasn't having much luck. He wasn't sure why he'd decided to get a cell phone again, but he had and apparently the number for this one had been given out to every carpet cleaning business and loan company in the country.<p>

Cas jerked suddenly as he felt pain burn a path through his left shoulder. He grasped it for a moment, before looking it over, but could find no discernable wound. Shrugging, he chose to ignore it, returning to his spell work. It was slow going though, as the shoulder continued to ache at him. When he finally realized that it wasn't his or his vessel's pain he was feeling, he could have kicked himself.

* * *

><p>Dean watched as Sam used the rosary his younger brother had managed to lift from Nancy, the station's secretary, to turn the only source of water they had in the cell into Holy Water. He just hoped that the fact it was toilet water didn't cancel out the blessing. Gritting his teeth, he pressed the towel they'd gotten at the same time up against the bullet hole in his left shoulder. Nothing quite said pain like getting shot by a demon possessed FBI deputy director.<p>

* * *

><p>In what would shortly be proven ironic when his face met Sam and Dean's Holy Water, SA Henricksen made a quick trip into the bathroom to answer the call of nature. He was just washing up when black smoke poured out of the ventilation system and shoved its way down his throat.<p>

Possessed, he managed to kill the sheriff before the Winchesters exorcised the thing from him. Freed, he finally came face to face with a world he had labelled a delusion only a short time before.

* * *

><p>They found her when they came in to get the road salt and she was trying to leave out the window she'd come in through.<p>

"Bela. How not so nice to see you." Dean said.

"Dean, Sam."

"Who's this?" Henricksen asked them.

"She's the one who turned us in." Sam said, answering him.

"Yes, well. It's not like I knew there'd be a sudden demon siege."

Dean glared at her for a moment. "Keep an eye on her Sam, and put her to work." Then he dismissed her from his mind for more important matters. He turned to the deputy.

"Hey, where's my car?"

"Impound lot, out back."

* * *

><p>Dean was filling a duffle bag with weapons from the Impala's trunk when he heard the street lights start to flicker and a fluttering sound came from behind him.<p>

"You are injured."

With a metallic clang Dean's head met the inside of the trunk. His hand went automatically to the wounded spot and he turned briefly to glare at the trench-coated form he expected to see behind him.

"I am now." He growled out, rubbing at the lump on his head before going back to collecting items from the car.

The lot's lights started to flicker again just as the wind picked up.

"It's not me." Cas said, before Dean even asked.

Quickly Dean grabbed another item and shoved it into the bag. Looking behind him, he could see a cloud of demon smoke coming towards them. He slammed the trunk shut.

"Run!"

Not waiting to see if Cas followed him, he bolted towards the police station.

* * *

><p>Dean opened the door to the station and stepped over the salt line at the door. Cas did the same, firmly proving that he wasn't a demon. Dean slammed the door shut once they were both in.<p>

"They're coming!" Dean yelled out as a general warning. "Hurry."

They all moved to the centre of the station. Dean threw Sam one of their shotguns. The younger man noticed Castiel's presence, but there wasn't time to remark on it.

Black smoke slammed into the building, darkening the windows. The door's shook and the building groaned under the assault. It lasted seconds, it felt like hours.

And then it was gone.

"Well, that was fun. I think I'll be going now." Bela said as she started to move carefully towards one of the doors, stopping when Dean stepped in front of her. "We have a few minutes before they find bodies and regroup. If we leave now we can get away."

"That is unlikely." Castiel said, suddenly behind her. That he could move like that didn't surprise Sam or Dean, but everyone else took a nervous step back from him.

Bela tried to move away as well, but he stopped her. Cas flipped the back of her shirt up and grabbed onto something that he pulled from the waistband of her slacks.

"I believe this is yours." Turning it handle first, he offered Dean the Colt.

"You bitch." Dean said addressing Bela as he took the gun, more than a little surprised that the trickster or whatever kind of pagan god he was, had offered it up. "Well, this explains why you're here. Did you really set all of this up just to get your hands on the Colt?"

"Just the cops. I had nothing to do with the demons. I wouldn't be stupid enough to be here if I had."

Dean snorted.

"Dean. " Sam decided to intervene before his brother could stage a full-blown argument with Bela. They had more important things to worry about.

"Right, right." Dean dug a small bag out of the duffle he'd filled with weapons. He opened it and started pulling necklaces out of it. "Everyone needs to put these on. They'll keep you from being possessed."

He handed them to everyone, except for Bela, who pulled out her own charm, and Cas, who merely shook his head when it was offered.

"What about you and Sam… and him." Nancy asked, pointing at Castiel.

Sam and Dean pulled the collars of their shirts down to show off their anti possession tattoos. They both looked at Cas.

A demon possessing him simply wouldn't be possible, but that probably wasn't an answer they would like. He settled for something else that Dean and Sam at least knew about.

"I have extensive warding."

They both nodded and left it at that. Although the answer made several of the other people in the room curious.

Pulling the collar of his shirt down had irritated Dean's shoulder wound enough that even Cas could feel it once more. Frowning, he walked over to the elder Winchester and grabbed onto his shoulder, his hand settling where he'd previously marked Dean.

The last time Cas had touched him there, Dean had experienced more pain in a brief time than he had over the course of his entire life. And that was a Hell of a lot of pain. Therefore, it wasn't surprising that he attempted to jerk out of the angel's grasp. If things had gone the way they had the first time, Dean would probably have shot him with the Colt before he'd registered what a bad idea that would be.

Only this time, it was different.

It wasn't heat, it wasn't even pleasure, but something moved through him, something clean. It was only for a moment, and then Cas let go and backed off. From the looks of it that was more because Sam was about to jump in to intervene, than him having any respect for Dean's personal space.

"What?" Dean moved his left arm, realizing that his shoulder was mended. His head as well, where he'd rammed it into the Impala's trunk.

"You healed me. Why?"

The honest truth was that Dean was in pain and Cas needed to fix it. However, that answer wouldn't currently fly with the brothers. Internally Cas sighed. Once again, there were too many lies in his life. "The shoulder wound was too close to your mark I could feel it. It was…annoying."

"Oh, well. Thanks."

"You are welcome."

* * *

><p>It didn't take long for the townspeople possessed by the demon smoke to surround the police station.<p>

Cas wandered into the office where Dean was loading guns and talking quietly with SA Henricksen. He was silently debating the pros and cons of staying over simply grabbing everyone and teleporting them to his closest safe house.

Dean hesitated when he saw him, and then he picked up one of the sawed offs and offered it to Cas. The angel in disguise shook his head.

"I am fairly unpractised with firearms."

"What do you plan to use then, your sparkling wit?"

Cas frowned at Dean's statement and a blade, too long to be a knife, but to short to truly be called a sword, was called to his right hand. It wasn't an angel-killing blade. If he used one of those then he might as well trumpet the truth of what he was from the tallest mountain. However, this weapon would work along similar lines to the knife Sam had stabbed him with a couple of months ago.

The blade was a good find. Cas had finished the safe houses some time back. Disliking inactivity, he had expanded his tasks to searching for useful books, weapons and spell components. This blade was just one of the things he'd come across.

Both men moved slightly back from him. Dean, because he believed he knew what Cas was and when he added armed to that equation it equalled him wanting more space to work in should he have to fight… or flee. Henricksen, because he would have bet money that the guy in the trench coat was unarmed. If this had been any other situation, he could have paid for that bet with his life.

After Cas left the room, Victor had to ask. "Who or maybe that should be, what is he?"

Dean shrugged. "We think he may be a trickster." He had to smile slightly at the FBI agents lost expression. "They're pagan gods who use their powers to play tricks, often very dangerous tricks. You know, like Coyote, or Raven…or Loki."

Victor breathed out a laugh. "Only thing I know about Loki, was what I read in a Thor comic when I was a kid."

Dean smiled and he laughed lightly in return. Now that they weren't on opposite sides, he found himself really liking this guy.

"So, the trickster?"

Dean shrugged. "He keeps hanging around. I owe him for a really, really big favour."

"So what, he's making sure he gets to collect?"

Dean fought down the shiver that wanted to run down his spine. "Yeah, guess so."

* * *

><p>Ruby came in through the window and Sam released her from the devils' trap. When Cas saw her, he had to firmly sit on the desire to shove his fist into her body and rip out her black heart.<p>

Dean didn't seem to be much happier to see her.

He was less happy to hear about some big new up and comer demon named Lilith that apparently wanted Sam's intestines on a stick. And monumentally pissed that Sam had known about her and hadn't told him yet.

"How about the two of you talk about this later. We'll need the Colt."

Dean held the gun up, and then wondered why it seemed to him that Ruby was surprised to see it when she'd just asked for it.

"And bullets?"

"Just the six in the gun. I got interrupted before I could grab the rest of them from the car." Dean's eyes flicked towards Cas as he said that, and then back to Ruby.

"Well that's just peachy." Ruby paced, taking a quick look out the window as she did. "There's too many of them for six bullets and one knife." She turned suddenly and looked at Cas. "And who the hell are you?"

Cas twitched, he could feel her testing his wards. If Sam hadn't answered the question for him, he might have done something… rash. "Uh, that's… Cas."

"Cas who owns Dean's contract? That Cas?" He gave her a nod. "Wow. Can't say I've met many demons that like to hang out with their victims. Or that show up to help them from time to time."

Given what he knew of Ruby's situation, that really was the pot calling the kettle black.

"I have a tendency to play with my food." Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Dean and Sam blanch at his statement and fought not to wince.

"Ruby…" Sam started, ending the word with a yelp. When they both looked over to him, they noticed him rubbing his side and glaring at his brother. Surprised, Cas realized that Dean must have intervened before Sam could tell the demon what he believed to be the truth about Castiel.

Eyes narrowed, Ruby brought her attention back to Cas. "I hear through the grapevine that the king of the crossroads is pissed at you. Oh, and Hell's top torturer is hoping to negotiate a little quality time with your pet."

It took him a moment to realize that she was testing him.

"Yes well, Crowley can… what would be the term?" Cas glanced towards Dean as he thought. "Ah, yes. He can sit on it and spin." It was something that had been on television that Dean had once found amusing and it seemed an appropriate suggestion, although he still didn't know what 'it' was. "As for Alistair… He comes near what's mine and I'll gut him."

"He'd probably enjoy that."

"True."

"Uh, guys? Could we stop airing our dirty laundry in public?" Dean asked, clearly uncomfortable.

Cas looked around the room and noticed that every human other than Dean, Sam and Bela were looking rather…unwell. And even the three of them didn't seem to be a hundred percent.

"Do we want to know what that was about?" Henricksen asked them, even though he now had a disturbingly good idea what it was that Dean owed the guy.

"Hell, no." Dean told him.

"Okay then."

Author's note: Sorry about this, but I had to split Jus in Bello into two parts.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 6

"I know a spell. It will vaporise every demon in a one-mile radius. My self included." Ruby looked over at Cas. "Oh, and you as well."

"I believe my wards are more than a match for your spell." He answered calmly.

She seemed to chew on that for a moment. It was obvious that she didn't like the taste of it.

"Okay." Dean said interrupting. "What do we need?"

"A virgin."

Cas frowned, easily able to see where this was going.

Dean laughed. "Nobody's a virgin."

Like metal filings to a magnet, both Ruby's and Cas' gaze fixed on Nancy. This brought everyone else's attention to her and she shrunk in on herself slightly.

"No way." Dean said, amazed.

"So, this spell, what do I have to do."

"You can hold still, while I cut your heart out of your chest."

xxxxxxx

"Stop. Nobody kill any virgins." Dean yelled out, ending the argument that had snowballed from Ruby's statement. He dragged his brother out into the hallway to talk to him.

Cas easily listened in as Dean tried to talk some sense into his brother and Sam took the side of sacrificing the young woman to save the thirty possessed people surrounding the station.

To be sadly honest, the angel could see Sam's point. However, he liked Dean's a lot more. He even preferred his plan, dangerous though it was, over the supposed safety of the one Ruby suggested.

Of course, this situation was educational as well. It showed him just how far back Ruby had been manipulating Sam.

He'd have to do something about that.

xxxxxxxx

Cas watched as Sam broke one of the devil's traps and the door's salt line to let Ruby leave. He gave her a couple of minutes to get some distance from the building before he turned and walked into the station's cell area and disappeared.

He reappeared in front of the demon.

Ruby jerked back from him as he dropped into sight. "Heh, so you decided you'd had enough of the bleeding hearts society as well?"

Cas shook his head. "No, I decided that, even though I don't know what Lilith will replace you with, I'd still rather not have you anywhere near the Winchesters.

Ruby's eyes went wide for a moment, but she didn't even bother to try to deny what he'd just said. Instead, her hand went for her knife. She pulled it out and stabbed at him, the move so smooth it was obvious that she'd done it a thousand times before.

He blocked it with his own knife.

He twisted the blade to the side and came around and up, attempting an underhand stab. She blocked downward and backed away. The two of the circled for a moment. Cas flipped the blade in his hand for an overhand attack and moved in. She danced out of the way, shoving him as she did, hoping to send him off balance. He spun around, graceful and precise at the same time. His block though, was awkward, as his blade was in a bad position to stop her underhand strike.

Then she tried to knee him in the groin.

Most any other hit he would have ignored, but for some reason he felt compelled to block this one with his left hand. In that moment, Ruby slid her knife out from under his and stabbed upward, taking him in the chest. Frowning, he dropped his own blade and stepped back, looking down at the handle sticking out of his upper body.

He really had had enough of being stabbed with this thing.

Ruby waited a few seconds, expecting him to either light up and die or if he proved to strong for the blade, writhe in pain as it tried to kill him. She started to get a very bad feeling when he just stood there quietly, staring at the knife. When he finally looked up at her, she realized she should have run.

In a move even smoother than her first attack, Cas pulled the blade out of his chest and slid it into Ruby's. At the same time, he slapped his left hand over her mouth, making sure that none of her demonic essence escaped before the knife did its work.

Jerking in his arms, her body lit up as the demon in it was consumed. When it was done, he lowered the remains to the ground. Pulling the knife out, he cleaned it magically before retrieving the sheath and sliding it in. With a wave of his hand he set Ruby's body on fire, before heading back to the station.

xxxxxxxx

In the middle of his preparations, Dean noticed Cas walk off into the cell area. He finished what he was doing and headed after him, uncomfortable with having him out of his sight.

He swore when he found the cells empty.

"Dean?"

"Hey Sam. Don't suppose you've seen Cas anywhere?"

His brother shook his head. "No, kinda thought he was with you. Why?"

"Cause I saw him walk in here, but he never came out."

"He bolted."

"Looks like."

The sound of wings was quite loud in the quiet of the cells.

"Is there a problem?"

Both men spun around to find Cas behind them.

"Crap. We thought you'd taken off."

He shook his head. "I just had a task to complete." He hesitated and then pulled a sheathed knife out of his pocket, handing it off to Sam. "You should probably have this."

Sam took it, frowning slightly. "This is Ruby's."

"Yes, she doesn't need it anymore."

Sam's hand came down on his shoulder as he attempted to move away.

"What the hell do you mean, she doesn't need it anymore?"

"I mean, I killed her."

"What? Why!"

"She was a demon Sammy." Dean said, answering the question.

"She was helping us."

Cas sighed. "And people believe me naïve."

"She was helping us. You're only around because you're getting some sick satisfaction out of screwing Dean over before you kill him and eat his soul."

"Regardless of what I am doing, she was not helping you. She was manipulating you."

Sam snorted.

"She was not your friend. Every part of her was Lilith's creature. Bit by bit she would have worked at you until you would do anything to win, no matter how terrible the price you or another would have to pay to help you achieved your goals. And then she would have had you do their work for them."

Sam shook his head. "No."

"It was already happening."

"No."

"Sam, you just seriously advocated helping a demon hold a young woman down so she could cut out her heart to use in a spell whose effectiveness you only had the demon's word on."

Sam's mouth froze open in denial. Dean took that moment to take over the conversation.

"So, she's dead?"

"Very."

Dean nodded. "Good. Now let's work on keeping us alive."

"Actually, I wanted to discuss that with you as well."

xxxxxxxx

Once again, they all stood in the middle of the building. "So you're saying you can just zap us out of here?" Deputy Phil Amici asked.

Cas nodded.

"Well hell, yes."

"But…"

"Yes Nancy?"

"What about everyone outside?"

"They will probably be used until the demons have no use for them, and then discarded." Cas said, as blunt as ever.

"When you say discarded?"

"They will most likely be dead."

"Then no, I'm staying. With Dean's plan we have a chance to save them."

Bela shook her head. "Do I really have to tell you my answer?"

Dean and Sam both rolled their eyes.

"I'm staying." Dean said. Sam nodded, agreeing. He may not like the plan, but he wasn't leaving thirty people possessed if he could help it.

"Staying." Henricksen said.

The deputy slumped. "Hell, might as well stay too."

Bela looked around at everyone. "Ah, I'm still happy to leave."

xxxxxxxx

They broke the traps and made paths in the salt, letting the demons in.

Then they fought.

It was messy, chaotic and in the end Dean and Sam found themselves slammed up against the walls and held there with a demon's power. Henricksen fought his way to the trap they had set and hit the play button on the tape recorder. Sam's voice speaking an exorcism, came across the station's sound system.

Outside, Nancy, Bela and the deputy came down off the roof where they'd been hiding. They slammed the doors shut, quickly laying new salt lines, this time to keep the demons in rather than out.

Castiel was inside, working the edges of the demon crowd when he heard Nancy scream. He fluttered outside to see one of the demons poised to attack the young woman, before it chose to run instead. Acting instinctively in the face of an escaping foe, Cas slammed his open palm into the demon's chest, going down on one knee as he flattened him to the ground. With another push, he burned the demon out of the body.

When he looked up, he saw Nancy on her knees, staring at him in shock.

"You're…"

Phil grabbed her, and she shook herself out of her surprise enough to stand and help him finish the salt lines.

As Cas stood, he realized two things. The deputy hadn't seen anything beyond him killing the demon.

And Nancy knew what he was.

xxxxxxxx

Inside, the demons were pulled from the people they had possessed. Unable to escape the building, the demon smoke collected on the ceiling in a swirling vortex that was burned away as the last word of the exorcism was spoken.

With the demons gone, Dean and Sam were released, falling to the floor in exhausted heaps. They carefully got to their feet as Henricksen joined them. Slowly, those that had been possessed came to, confused and willing to believe just about any explanation given them as long as it wasn't the truth.

xxxxxxxx

After the aftermath, Cas was surprised to find the young secretary alone in the cell area.

"Nancy?"

She turned to him, fear and wonder in her eyes. That, more than anything proved what he suspected had happened. Even though his wards held, when he'd killed that demon Nancy had somehow seen the shadow of his wings. It probably hadn't lasted for more than a second or two, but even that had been too long.

He'd now have to erase that memory.

"You're…" Cas put a finger over Nancy's lips before she could say anything further.

"Yes, I am."

"Why are you pretending to be something else?"

Cas sighed. "The Winchesters are my charges, but they're not ready to know and in Dean's case, not ready to believe. Also, I can better help them if the things out there don't know what I am."

Nancy nodded. "So they underestimate you."

"Yes."

"Okay."

Cas blinked, not sure what she was saying okay to. "What is okay?"

"Whatever it is you have to do. It's okay." She said, steeling herself.

Somehow, that made it worse.

xxxxxxxx

"Dean and Sam Winchester died in the helicopter fire. Nothing left. Can't even identify them by dental records."

Dean and Sam were looking cautiously happy at Victor Henricksen's words.

"I believe we need to be more extreme than that."

Dean and Sam, well, Dean looked at Cas, Sam glared at him. Both looks were questions.

"Whaddya mean?"

"It is possible Lilith could find her way here, to this place. If she did, she would surely take out her frustrations for the failure of this attack on anyone left in the building."

Dean nodded. "Okay, so what do we do?"

"We need to kill everyone and destroy the building."

"What!" It was a Dean and Sam stereo moment.

"I second that what." Victor added.

"We need to empty the building of anyone living and destroy it so that all evidence of what happened here is wiped clean and Dean and Sam are believed dead."

"And how do we make that work?" Henricksen asked.

"The helicopter that came to collect the Winchesters suffered mechanical failure. Attempts were made to repair it. As it had taken all night, and as this annoyed the deputy director, he sent you off into town to pick up breakfast. One of the deputies and the station's secretary came with you to help. While you were getting the food, a gas main ruptured. The building went up, killing everyone inside. It also destroyed the helicopter that was sitting in the parking lot as well as everything that was in the impound lot out back."

As Cas said all of that, he realized that he really had spent too much time around Crowley and consequently, too much time covering his tracks when he'd been with Dean and Sam. Somewhere along the way, he'd become good at it.

"And how do we fake a gas main break?" Dean asked him.

"I will deal with that. You need to get the Impala and get out of here. The other's need to take a car and head to the nearest diner. I'll give you twenty minutes from when you leave to get to where you need to be."

"Ah, are you really sure this is necessary?" Victor asked him.

"Yes." Cas remembered the raising of the witnesses. He had no desire to see Henricksen become one of them a second time.

xxxxxxxx

Victor was just ordering enough breakfasts for a dozen people when a sound like thunder rolled through the town.

xxxxxxxx

At their next motel, Dean grabbed the ice bucket as an excuse to get out of the room while his brother poured obsessively over the contract, looking for loopholes. After filling the bucket from the ice machine, he set it on top of it. The drink machine next to it got stared at for a good minute while he tried to work up enough enthusiasm for a soda.

"I believe you were officially declared dead an hour ago."

Dean refused to jump, no matter how much his body wanted to. He turned to glare at Cas. "Yeah, so we heard. You really did a number on that place, didn't you?"

Cas just shrugged and tossed him a couple of items that looked like hex bags, although they were somewhat more complex than that. He'd rather use more permanent warding, but this would be less noticeable to anyone from the celestial realm. "These should keep you and Sam from being deliberately found by demons. I'd rather not have that siege replayed any time soon."

"Ah, thanks."

Cas nodded.

Dean tilted his head towards the machine behind him. "Want a soda?'

Cas raised his eyebrows at the question, but shook his head no.

Dean pumped some money into the machine and hit the button for a cola. He pulled it out, focusing on it as he twisted the can back and forward in his hands. "Could I ask you something?"

"Of course."

Dean turned to him and leaned up against the drink machine. "What's it like, being inside of you?" He paused, and replayed what he'd just said in his mind. Groaning, he dropped his face into the palm of his hand. "I don't believe I just said that."

Cas looked equally confused, something Dean missed, as he couldn't bring himself to look at the man.

"What I meant was, when you take a soul into you, what happens to them?"

"Ah." Cas pondered that for a moment. Horrifying revelations of his future aside, he had once held the 50,000 souls Crowley had leant him to stand against Raphael. When he was done with them, he had released those he could into Heaven and had returned the rest to Hell. That contact was too brief to get a good sense of it, so the only soul he currently had any experience with, was his vessels, Jimmy.

"Mostly you sleep."

Dean looked up at him, startled.

"What, no torture?"

"No, or at least, not intentionally. I do try to shield a soul when it is with me, however…" Cas paused.

"Don't stop there."

"Sometimes what I am or what I'm doing leaks through. I believe these moments can be difficult, even terrifying." Cas tilted his head and Dean got the impression that he was listening to something.

Cas gave a small huff of a laugh. "Apparently it's comparable to being strapped to a comet."

"You talk with them?"

"Yes, although I admit, probably not as often as I should." Actually, now that he thought about it, Jimmy hadn't spoken to him for pretty much the last year, even though he knew his vessel had been awake several times.

"Okay." Dean said, interrupting his internal musings.

Cas twitched slightly. Even in the short time since having altered Nancy's memories, he found he was beginning to dislike that word. Especially when it was said like that, with equal parts acceptance and resignation.

"Dean?"

"Do you think you could tell Sam that he's wasting his time?"

Cas frowned, totally lost. "What is he wasting his time on?"

"The contract." Cas shook his head, not understanding. "He keeps reading it over and over, looking for some kind of loophole."

"Ah, how many has he found so far?" Cas asked him.

It was Dean's turn to look confused. "What?"

"There are several, he must have found some of them by now."

Dean's mouth fell open. "What do you mean, there are several?"

Cas sighed. "Dean, crafting a contract like that takes power. The more airtight the contract, the more power has to be poured into it. My taking your contract was a spur of the moment thing. Believe me, there are loopholes. The thing is rife with them."

Dean blinked as Cas disappeared before he could ask him any more questions.

"I know you do that on purpose." He called out. "No ones timing could be that bad by accident." Grumbling he collected more drinks and the ice before heading back to the room to help Sam with the contract.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 7

When Gabriel appeared in front of him, Castiel wasn't surprised. Despite his wards and safe houses, he had expected his brother to track him down eventually.

"Hey bro. Thought it was passed time that I got you a house warming present." His grin got scary big at Cas' confused look. "Figured since you seem to have moved down here, that makes Earth the new home and means you need a present."

Slightly panicked, Cas wondered if there was a way to refuse a gift from his brother that would actually work. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the thought, but anything Gabriel believed appropriate was probably one part humour and nine parts dangerous.

"Come on Cas." The angel raised his eyebrows at Gabriel having discovered that much of his name. "Yeah, yeah, I've been eavesdropping on the Winchesters, they've called you that a few times. Now stop freaking out, it's a good present."

"Very well."

"Okay, brace yourself, 'cause you are now officially, a god."

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To be honest, Gabriel thought that Cas might be annoyed by his present. What he didn't expect was for the other angel to back away from him in horror, not stopping until his back came up against a wall. The colour washed right out of his face and his hands were actually shaking. The archangel suspected that if he were capable of it, Cas might have opted to allow the shock to render him unconscious.

"Hey Cas, are you okay? I mean, the Winchesters already think you're a pagan god. I just built in some background information for you."

"Pagan…, oh." Cas slid down the wall until he ended up sitting on the floor, a dazed look on his face. "Oh."

"What the hell did you think I meant?"

Cas shook his head as he got to his feet, wobbling slightly. "Nothing."

"That was not 'nothing'."

"It doesn't matter."

"Cas!"

Castiel jerked slightly. That last had been delivered in a command voice and given that Gabriel was an archangel, it was some voice. He looked away from his brother, focusing on a nonexistent something halfway between himself and the nearest wall.

"I told you about my last 'game'."

"Yeah, so? Dad swatted you up along the side of the head and you gave it up."

Cas shook his head. "We were a day or two away from opening purgatory. When I asked him for a sign, he showed me exactly what was going to happen, down to the smallest detail."

"Okay, so you saw…"

"And heard and felt. You've held power before Gabriel, but do you know what it's like to hold millions upon millions of souls? To be so powerful and so insane from that power that you would declare yourself God?"

Ah, he'd struck Gabriel speechless, again.

"So no, the last thing I ever want to be, is a god."

Gabriel winced. "Sorry 'bout that bro, but you're kind of stuck with it. If it makes you feel any better, it's a god I made up."

Cas frowned. "How did you do that?"

"Oh, you know. A little internet website here, a little time travel there. Add a paragraph to someone's notes, plant an artefact or two and drop a name into the right ears and boom, instant god. By the way, you're now Finnish."

"What?"

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The boys had decided to lay low for a bit and let their 'officially dead' status work its way through the system. They'd ended up at Bobby's, mostly so Sam could raid the older man's library. Bobby and Dean had even joined in to help with the research. Sam was still working on the contract itself. Bobby was trying to see if he could find out exactly who or what Cas was and Dean was investigating any mention of contracts or agreements between gods and humans. As it turned out, there were more of those than he'd thought there be. He'd started with the Egyptians, but was currently trapped in the Greek and Roman pantheons.

"Dude got a lot of tail."

Sam frowned and pulled himself out of the book he was consulting. "Who?"

"Zeus."

"Oh." Sam nodded and went back to his book.

Bobby had started his search from a more obscure side of things, suspecting that whoever Cas was, he either wasn't well known, or hadn't been heard from for a long time. He was also cross-referencing any mention of Loki that he could find. He frowned as he noticed a reference to a god who may have been connected to, or absorbed by the belief in Loki. He put the book down and went to get another, pulling one out on the folklore of Finland.

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"Yep." Gabriel told his brother. "It seemed the best choice. There's the occasional god that scholars don't know much about from that area. Slipping another one in was fairly simple."

"And what about the rest of the gods of that pantheon?"

Gabriel's face twisted up in a grimace. "As far as I can tell, they don't exist anymore. Some of them were killed off by other gods. Some were absorbed by their counterparts, and I mean that literally. I think a few just…gave up after their people stopped believing in them."

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"Think I may have something here." Both of the brothers gave their attention to Bobby. "Finland. Pagan trickster god, vague connection to Loki. Appears as a man with night hair and sky coloured eyes."

"Huh?" Dean asked.

"Black hair and blue eyes."

"Oh, okay."

Bobby looked the page over until he found his place again. "Gets his power by keeping human souls and consuming the shadow part of them.

"Shadow part? " Dean asked.

"Early Finnish beliefs in the soul was that they were made up of several parts or spirits. "

Dean nodded and let Bobby continue. "Plays tricks by making deals with humans. Human usually get the short end of the stick, unless the trick he's playing is on something else and the human is just a means to an end. And even then, it could still go either way."

"Lovely."

"Yeah. Hmph. Has a tendency to play tricks on other gods and demons more so than on humans, which is why people would pray to him to intervene if they believed they were being singled out by either. Sometimes takes the appearance of a bird."

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"A bird?" Cas asked his brother.

"Yeah, well, you've got that whole, head tilt, curious bird look thing going for you. I just thought I'd use it.

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"Might explain the flapping." Dean said.

Sam nodded. "When he appears."

Bobby glared at the two of them. "Something you haven't told me."

Dean shrugged. "It was just that, the last couple times he popped up, I thought I heard…wings flapping just before he showed."

"Huh…"

"So." Dean started to ask, pulling Bobby out of his thoughts. "this guy got a name?"

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"Kaseva."

Cas did the aforementioned head tilty thing. "Isn't that a rock band?"

Gabriel stared at him, his expression incredulous. "You're telling me that you don't get half of the pop culture references that old Dean'o spews out, but you do know the name of a Finnish rock band?"

Cas shrugged. "They are very harmonious."

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"Well, guess that explains why he shortens it to Cas. Or would that be Kas?"

Sam shrugged. "So, is there anything on how to break a deal with the guy?"

Bobby shook his head. "Nah, what I just told you is more information than I expected to find. Sounds like if a contract does get broken, it's because he wanted it to happen.

"He does seem to be trying to help us do that." Dean said.

"Yeah, but if he is, then who is he really playing the joke on?" Bobby asked.

Since they didn't have an answer for that, they went back to the books.

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"So anyway, just keep an ear out."

"An ear?" Cas had to wonder if his brother strove to be confusing, or if it was just natural talent.

"Yep, with the internet website, you may get a few pagans praying to you. Nothing you haven't handled before."

Cas closed his eyes. Surely, this was what a headache felt like.

"Oh, yeah. All that time travel I just pulled off made me think. So, you know, when you're ready to tell me, let me know what time you're really from."

And with that, Gabriel disappeared.

Cas sighed. "I believe I now know why Dean finds that so annoying."

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After days of finding nothing new, Dean finally had a fit.

"Enough. Enough of this." He grabbed the book Sam was reading out of his hands. "We're burned out, we need to do something else."

Sam growled at him and grabbed the book back. Bobby intervened before a tug of war could start.

"He's right Sam. You're going in circles. You need to do something else and then come back at it from a fresh angle."

"Okay, okay. What?"

Dean flashed him a huge smile and he knew whatever it was, it was going to be trouble. His brother pulled a file out from behind his back and slapped it down in front of Sam.

"The Morton House."

"Are you insane?"

"Hey, come on man, it's our Grand Canyon and it's happening this year in another week. If we don't take it down now, then we'd have to wait another four years and you know… I might not be here in another four years."

"Which is why we should be working on the contract and not a hunt."

"Sam, please. I'm begging here. This is something I really want to do."

"Grr. Alright, alright. But if this ends badly, I'm kickin' your ass."

"You can try Sammy, you can try."

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Morton House, February 29th.

"Sam!"

"Corbett!"

"Sammy!" Please, please, please let him be alright. And if not, then please let the 'bring Sam back' part of the contract hold.

"Sam!" Of course, could Cas bring his brother back if they couldn't find him?

"Corbett! Talk to us."

"Sam."

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Morton House, February 29th, morning.

Sam, Dean and the surviving Ghostfacers gathered in front of the Morton House, glad and a little shell shocked at still being alive. They had lost and yet had been saved by the one Facer who had been killed during the night. Despite the horrors they'd experienced, Sam suspected that the group of amateur ghost hunters wouldn't be giving up, so he passed on his and Dean's contact information.

They were surprised several weeks later, when that information was used to invite them to a preview of the show the group had edited together from the footage of the night at the Morton House. The Ghostfacers base (garage) was where Cas found them when he did his usual checking up on the Winchesters.

Watching invisibly he found the show to be…interesting. It did a good job of displaying the complexities and dangers of being a hunter. The problem was that it also displayed Dean and Sam. They'd just gotten the FBI off their tails, they didn't need them back anytime soon.

He was still trying to figure out how to fix the problem, non- lethally and without altering the group's memories. He did remember Dean and Sam consulting the Facer's website for information about ghosts during the time they'd had their own memories altered by Zachariah. Without the information, they may not have survived that hunt.

In the end, Dean took the matter out of his hands with an electro magnet that wiped all of the team's hard drives. Cas stayed long enough after the Winchesters had left to make sure that everything was gone.

It was too bad though. He wouldn't have minded having a copy of that film himself.

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The boys expanded their search, seeing a number of law professionals, and a few folklore professors. None of them had any more luck with the contract or had any more information on Cas than Bobby had found. And that assumed that Cas and Kaseva were the same entity.

Dean was beginning to suspect that they'd have had more luck asking the Ghostfacers for help than the so-called professionals.

Finally having had enough, Dean got a hunt from Bobby and dragged a reluctant Sam to Milan, Ohio. After a few inquiries, it appeared to be a mass haunting, with ghosts using an old phone number to reach out and touch their loved ones.

Including Dean.

"Dean, Dean is that you?"

"Dad?"

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Sam was obviously somewhat sceptical about the call having come from their dad. A trip to a local museum to check out Edison's Spirit phone netted nothing but conjecture. They had already checked with the phone company before Dean's call from the other side. That was where they had gotten the list of phones that were being called by the old number. Stewie, the guy running the control centre, was a slob and a pervert and had easily folded under pressure from the 'Main Office'.

After Sam went to sleep that night, Dean stayed up, waiting for the phone to ring again.

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"Dean, how could you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Sell your soul."

"I was looking after Sammy, like you told me to."

"I never wanted this. Never. You're my boy. I love you. I can't watch you go to Hell, Dean."

Caught up in the moment, Dean didn't notice that his father had incorrect information.

"I'm sorry, I don't know how to stop it."

"'Cause if you break the deal Sam dies, right?"

"What? No…" Dean started to explain how the contract was different, but John cut him off.

"Well I know a way out, for both of you."

"How?"

"The demon that holds your contract. He's here, now."

"Uh, huh." Once he could have ignored, twice, okay. Three times…no. Dean's voice was calm when he answered, but his expression was devastated.

He opened the bathroom door, where he'd gone to talk without waking his brother, and went back into the main part of their motel room. He turned on a lamp and gave Sam a nudge. The younger man jerked awake, looking at him.

"So dad, what can we do?"

Sam's eyes widened and he looked questioningly at his brother. Dean grimaced and shook his head. "An exorcism. Yeah, but Dad, sending it back to Hell won't help much." He listened for a bit. "This one will actually destroy the demon that's holding my contract. Okay, lay it on me."

Grabbing a pen and paper, Dean wrote down the instructions his father's voice was telling him. "Yeah, I got all that. Slight problem though 'dad'. I sold my soul, but it wasn't to a demon."

"Dad?"

Dean lowered the phone. "He hung up. Imagine that."

"I take it that wasn't Dad?"

"No. I don't know what it was, other than dead when I find it."

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Once they figured out it was a Crocotta and that they live in filth, they tracked it back to slob guy from the phone company.

They waited in the parking lot until he went to leave for the night. When he got to his car, both of them went in together. Sam in the lead, holding a blade to the back of the guy's neck, the point resting where a shove would disconnect his spine. Dean brought up the rear as guard, making sure that no one showed up to intervene.

"I know what you are, and I know how to kill you." Sam slammed he guy up against his own car.

"Please, please, if we're overcharging you for the call waiting or something I can fix it."

Sam and Dean looked at each other, eyebrows raised.

"Don't kill me, please."

Dean shrugged and turned back to his surveillance just in time to witness slob guy's straight-laced boss swinging back with a bat. He put up an arm to block and ducked a bit.

"Sammy!"

"Urk."

When nothing hit him, Dean looked up. The guy stood there, a surprised look on his face and a dribble of blood coming out one side of his mouth. The body seemed to jerk slightly and Dean heard the familiar sound of a blade scrapping over bone. Obviously dead, the corpse dropped to the ground like a meat puppet with cut strings.

Cas, or Kaseva or whatever the hell it was he called himself, stood behind the body with a blood-covered blade in his right hand.

"Oh my God, Clark."

Dean realized that Sam and phone guy had turned and were looking at Cas as well. The trickster god frowned at the guy and then flicked his left hand at him. Stewie bounced off the car, his head taking most of the damage. He landed in a heap on the ground, unconscious.

Cas stepped over to the downed man and touched two fingers to his forehead.

"What the hell are you doing?" Sam asked, looking like he wanted to test out the blade he had in his hand by planting it in Cas' back.

"I am altering the last few minutes of his memories so he believes that he and his boss were mugged going to their cars and that 'Clark' was killed when he tried to resist." He searched slob guy, pulling out his wallet and pocketing it. He looked over to Dean, who caught the clue and stripped the other guy of any valuables he had.

"Yeah, but why…" Sam's voice petered out and he looked over at Clark. "He was the Crocotta?"

"Yes."

Dean stood up from what he had been doing. "Not that I mind the assist, but why exactly are you helping?"

"Crocotta's eat souls."

"Yeah, well… so do you." Sam said.

"No, I hold souls. They are with me. They can be used by me, but they are not necessarily consumed in that use."

"Okay." Dean said, deciding to ignore the 'necessarily' part of Cas' sentence for the good of his own mental health. "Still doesn't explain the help."

"It's a contract matter. If Sam dies during the year, I have to bring him back or you could wiggle out of it. However, I will never again bring back someone who is missing a part as essential as a soul. If the Crocotta had killed Sam and eaten his soul, the contract would have broken because I could not fulfill my part of it."

"Dean would have been free." Sam said.

"Yeah, and you would have been dead." Dean replied, looking like he wanted to swat his little brother on the back of the head.

Sam shook his head. "Yeah, I know. I'm not wanting to be dead, I'm just realizing that I'm not looking at your contract the right way." He turned to talk to Cas, slumping when he realized that the trickster was gone. "Damn it."

Dean shook his head. "Lets face it, he does that a lot." He sighed. "Come on man, let's get the hell out of here. We'll find a phone booth and call 911 for Stewie here."

Sam nodded. "I need to get back to your contract."

Dean rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything. Whatever happened, either way, it was only for a couple more months. They'd survive that long. And after that…

Well, at least Sam would.

Author's note; Yes, I did just give Cas his own rock and roll alias. It was all Gabriel's fault. On a secondary note, I really do love the Ghostfacers, but sadly, I couldn't see Cas doing more than moving around the edges of that episode.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

Author's note: A slightly longer than usual chapter. Somewhat more serious as well.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 8

It was like one of those pictures in a picture. If he could just look at the articles the right way…

"Loophole, loophole. Can't weasel… " Sam blinked and looked at the contract a little closer. "No, can weasel, it only says Dean can't, it doesn't say anything about me trying to get him out of it. It only covers it if I try to do it by killing Cas. As long as Dean doesn't know…then maybe." He flipped back through the pages, looking for something to use.

"Upon death…" Sam's eyes got wide. "But what if you can't die?"

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Bela threw her clothing haphazardly into her suitcase.

"Hello darling." A man's voice said casually from behind her.

Bela froze, her expression giving the impression that she'd just discovered a poisonous spider making a home in her things.

"You know, you'd almost think that that 'I'd do anything to get out of my contract' speech you gave me a few months ago was a load of malarkey."

"Crowley." She turned to take in the dapper man. "I'll get you the Colt, just as soon as I find Sam and Dean."

He laughed. "I'm afraid the price of freedom has gone up and you're running out of time."

"What, no. We had a deal."

He shook his head. "That's what happens when you don't deliver on schedule." He smiled as he watched her shake and wondered if it was from anger or fear. Or both.

"So what's the cost now?"

"Well, Lilith still wants the Colt, of course. It's just that she also really wants Sam Winchester's head on a plate." He tilted his head and gave her a look. "Think you can handle that?"

She took a shaky breath. "Of course."

"Yes. Well, I guess we'll see."

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This close to the end, Castiel was keeping an eye on the Winchesters almost 24/7. The contract was simple by Hell's standards, he had seen enough of Crowley's work over the year they were partners to know that. However, the boys still didn't seem to understand how it worked, because while Sam had figured out the weaselling loophole, he had picked one of the worst ways to pursue it. Even using one of the ways out that required Cas' death would be better, although he would prefer not dying. Of course, given how many of the loopholes did require his death, the angel suspected that he had been more depressed than he'd realized when he'd crafted the agreement.

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Sitting at a table in their motel room, Sam laid out their Father's journal in front of his brother.

"Dr. Benton. Real life doctor. Lived in New Hampshire. Brilliant and obsessed with alchemy. Especially, how to live forever. 1816 doc abandons his practice…

"Right, yeah." Dean picked up the narrative. "Nobody hears from him for like, twenty years. All of a sudden people start showing up dead."

"Dead, or missing an organ… or a hand, or some other kind of part." Sam said, agreeing.

Dean nodded. "Because whatever he was doing was actually working. He just kept on ticking. Parts would wear out, he'd replace them." He paused. "I thought Dad hunted him down and took his heart out."

Sam shrugged. "Yeah, I guess the doc must have plugged in a new one."

"Immortality is a very poor escape clause to choose."

"Crap."

Both Winchesters were on their feet, breathing hard and looking at the man in a trench coat that was sitting on the end of one of the beds.

"Don't you ever knock?" Dean asked, the question somewhat rhetorical.

"That would mean using doors."

"Exactly!"

Sam leaned on the table and tried to get his heart rate back to where it should be. "What do you mean, it's a poor escape clause? It's the only one I've found so far."

Cas shook his head. "If Dean attempts that form of immortality in an attempt to break the contract, I will consider it weaselling and I will drop you into a coma."

"Whoa, whoa. Nobody said anything about becoming immortal, right Sammy." His brother looked away, suddenly finding the tabletop fascinating to look at. Dean's eyes narrowed. "You knew this was Doc Benton from the jump, didn't you?"

Sam shook his head. "I hoped. Wasn't sure until now."

"Why?"

Sam looked at Cas, whose expression was stony. "Because, you have to die before he can take your soul. If you can't die, then he's crap out of luck."

"Yeah, and you're in a coma, because I've got to agree, living for ever, that's trying to weasel out."

Sam expression hit bitch face and he focused it on Castiel. "You keep making like you want to help Dean get out of this, yet when I finally find something…"

Cas shook his head. "It's wrong. Believe me. As much as I would rather you not, shooting me with the Colt would be a better choice."

"No, I do that and Dean dies and your father, whoever that is, gets his soul."

Cas sighed. "You are still not looking at it the right way. Dean's soul would pass to Him upon Dean's death, yes. However, my Father would not be unkind to him and it is unlikely that He would take him before his time."

Dean rubbed at one of his ears. There was something odd and yet familiar about the way Cas talked about his father.

Sam sat down and stared at the tabletop again. "I can't risk it, not with Dean's soul."

Cas closed his eyes for a few moments. "Fine." He looked at Dean. "If this immortality is something you truly want, then I will not oppose it."

"So, what? No coma for Sam?"

Cas tilted his head. "A two minute coma for Sam. I'd have to hold you to that much of the contract." He hesitated. "Dean, please. If you do manage to find the way. Think hard before you follow it."

For once, neither of the Winchesters were surprised when he vanished.

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Since the usual, supernatural channels were coming up empty when it came to the Winchesters, Bela went in the opposite direction. Technology. She knew a geek or two who could hack computers and cell phones… and phone companies for that matter. She figured that a direct call to Bobby wouldn't work, so she started getting in touch with people he had connections to that were obscure enough that he might believe she simply hadn't known. Through them, she put out the word that she was looking for the Winchesters. Eventually one of them would pass that bit of information on to Bobby and he'd call Sam and Dean. All she had to do was supply her geek with junk food until he had a call that he could trace.

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Hearing from Rufus was a damned rare event. Bobby hadn't seen the man in fifteen years and had talked to him maybe once or twice a year in all that time. However, they had been partners at one time and even though Bobby had been the one to screw that up, the man still passed on information when it was important.

"Thanks Rufus, I'll let them know. Need anything on your end?"

"A bottle of Scotch."

"I'll send one your way."

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"She's looking for us? Any idea why?" Dean asked Bobby over the phone.

"Well, if I were a bettin' man, which I am from time to time. I'd lay one down on her still trying to get her hands on the Colt." Bobby told him.

"Yeah. Well, can't be worried about it now. We'll just have to keep it with us and hope for the best."

"You boys on a hunt?"

"Yeah. Something Dad went after once. It didn't stay as finished as he thought it had."

The older man grunted in acknowledgement. "I was wondering why you two were taking a hunt so close to your deadline."

"Hey, I'd rather do this than sit and fret. Anyway, thanks for the heads up, talk to you later Bobby."

Dean flipped his phone closed. "You catch that?"

Sam nodded. "Bela, right?"

"Yep. Girl is a pain in the ass."

"Yeah well, like you said, we've got more important things to worry about." Sam laid out a map with areas circled on it. He tapped his finger on one of them. "Hunting cabins. They've mostly been abandoned for years."

Dean nodded. "What are we waiting for?"

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They found the doctor's base. It had it all. Medical supplies, the good physician's lab book, which Sam lifted, a dead body and one injured civilian, the presence of whom made them opt for getting her to safety over staying to deal with Benton.

Of course, one of the perks was getting to drive over the doc as they made their escape.

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Sam and Dean had dropped the injured girl off at the hospital, pulling off a disappearing act before anyone could ask them any serious questions. Sam had his nose in Doc

Benton's lab journal all the way back to the hotel room. He only looked up from it once they were inside and he heard the sound of bed springs creaking as someone who was waiting for them stood up.

"Bela?"

The silenced shot shredded a corner of the lab book on the way by and lodged in Sam's chest. He dropped the book as a second bullet joined the first, his body following the book's path to the floor moments after. Bela turned the gun on Dean, only getting one shot off before he crashed into her. Not bothering with any finesse, Dean slugged her, hitting her hard enough that he broke her jaw, although she was lucky he hadn't also broken her neck. Not surprisingly, this rendered her unconscious.

He tossed her gun across the room and dove for his little brother, ignoring the fact that he himself had once again been shot in the left shoulder.

"Sam!"

His brother gasped when he grabbed him, his eyes not focusing on anything. "De.." He couldn't gather enough breath to talk.

"No, no, no, no, no." Dean put pressure on the wounds, not wanting to admit it was hopeless even as he watched blood begin to pool under his brother. He couldn't lose him. Not again.

"Cas, please!" It didn't matter anymore. Whatever he wanted, he'd do. He would pay the price gladly, just as long as Cas held to the contract and brought his brother back.

"Dean, move."

Cas was there, kneeling at Sam's other side.

Dean froze. Sam was still breathing and giving up on him while he was alive…

"Dean, it's easier for me to heal him than it is for me to bring him back from the dead. Move."

Dean moved.

Cas slammed one hand down on Sam's chest, the other one going to the young man's forehead. He put more power into the healing than was probably needed, but with Sam this close to death, he didn't want to risk a half measure.

Sam gasped and sat up, clutching at his now healed chest. Dazed, he looked from Cas to his brother.

"Dean. You're bleeding!"

Dean blinked. "I am?" He glanced down at himself and noticed the wound in his shoulder. "Oh, ow."

Cas reached over and gripped him lightly by the shoulder. That same clean feeling from the last time he'd done that whipped through Dean and he breathed a sigh of relief as the bullet hole healed instantly. He gave Cas a shaky thank you and then looked over at Bela.

"So, what do we do with her?"

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Given that she'd shot and would have killed Sam if it hadn't been for Castiel, Dean gave serious consideration to taking her out to the hunting cabins and leaving her out there for old Doc Benton to harvest for parts.

And that was just the part of him that didn't want to kill her himself.

Cas had surprised them by actually staying. He helped Dean tie Bela to a chair and slapped a sound block on the room, suspecting that the upcoming interrogation could become noisy. He was standing behind the thief when Dean pulled her head up by her hair.

"Wakey, Wakey. She came to, tried to say something and then moaned in pain. Castiel reached out and touched her shoulder, causing her to gasp in relief. Frowning, Dean looked at him.

"Did you just heal her?"

Cas returned his gaze. "She would be unable to answer questions with a broken jaw."

Dean nodded, even though his expression could best be described as grumpy.

"Okay Bela, this is how it's going to work. We ask, you tell and maybe you get to see tomorrow."

Her laughing wasn't how Dean expected her to react to being threatened. He became even more confused when it turned into jagged crying with gasping moments that bordered on screaming.

Cas stood behind her, his expression hard even though he felt some sympathy for the woman. Though he hadn't recognized her the first time he had seen her with Dean, he did know who Bela Talbot was. Albeit, in written form only. Given the time travel nature of his situation, he regretted not having read more of the Winchester gospels than he had. Still, he'd read enough to know what was coming for her this night.

"Bela… Bela!" Dean gave her a shake, and then slapped her. Her head snapped to the side and she breathed in great gasps of air as she attempted to bring her emotions under control.

"Why Bela? I understand you going after the Colt, but what the hell was up with trying to kill us?"

"Trying?" She looked around the room, her eyes widening when she saw Sam alive. He'd even cleaned up and changed his shirt while she'd been unconscious. "How?"

Sam frowned at her. "Dean's contract. Wouldn't be much point in him paying out if I'm dead."

She shook her head. "No, why..?"

"Why what Bela?" Dean asked her.

When she just continued to shake her head, Cas decided he could stay silent no longer. "She wonders why they would ask for Sam's death, if they knew that he wouldn't stay dead."

"Why would they know?"

Bela attempted to shake the hair that had fallen into her face back over her shoulders. "They have to. Lilith…she's the one holding the contract."

Dean threw Cas a look. "Since when."

Bela looked at him like he was missing a few cards from his deck. "I don't know what your friend here has told you, but she holds all the contracts for Hell."

"And you know this how?"

Bela looked away from him. "Because…she holds mine."

Dean sucked in a deep breath. "Well, crap." Dean stalked away from her and then back. "When's it due?"

She stared at the floor, not answering.

"Double crap."

Cas tilted his head in thought. "Did Lilith order Sam's death in person?"

Bela shook her head and attempted to twist around, trying to see whom she was talking to, even though she remembered the voice from the demon siege in Colorado. Giving up, she answered. "No, most of her orders come through her lieutenant, the guy who runs the crossroad demons."

Cas' eyes narrowed. "Crowley."

"Yes."

Dean watched Cas contemplate that for a few moments before interrupting.

"You think the guy was working against orders?"

Cas shook his head. "I am not certain. Knowing Crowley, he would have reason for wanting Sam dead. However, I do not believe he would be prepared to go against Lilith at this time." He tilted his head in contemplation. "She may have believed that Bela would fail, but that the attempt would continue the appearance that she wants Sam dead."

Sam laughed. "You make it sound like she wants me for something else."

Cas grimaced, realizing that he was giving away more information than a pagan trickster god should probably know. He forged ahead anyway. "She does."

Dean felt a shiver run down his spine. "I'm going to go with, that's probably not a good thing."

"It isn't. Lilith will present herself as an opposing force, as a being of vast power that still must be fought. Through these means, she hopes to push Sam to access his powers and learn to harness them."

"Why would that be bad?"

"Because what you would have to do to gain that power would not be worth the price and in the end, you would do the work she wished done."

Sam shook his head. "It would never happen."

Cas closed his eyes. "It would." He opened his eyes again and fixed his gaze on the younger Winchester. "It would because you would believe you were doing the right thing. You would believe that you were stopping her, when the opposite would instead be true."

He could feel Dean's gaze on him and he turned to find the man staring at him contemplatively.

"That sounds like the voice of experience talking."

Cas cast his eyes down, finding the floor to be more interesting than he'd previously noticed. "You wouldn't be wrong."

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Dean turned to look at Bela. "You've only got until midnight, right?"

Bela's eyes closed and a single tear traced a path down her right cheek. "Yes."

Dean shook his head. "Damn it. If you'd just asked us for help."

"What, you'd have gone after the Hell Bitch for me?"

"Yes."

She looked at him, disbelieving.

"Sure, it might not have just been to help you, but we would have. Given how much she wants to mess with Sam, I'd say we probably have to. If you'd come to us a few weeks ago we might have had a chance to do something for you too. Now…" He might hate her. Hell, he knew he out and out wanted to kill her, but… He looked at Cas. "Do you know anything about her contract?"

Cas realized that Dean's question was centred in the same empathetic reaction that the angel had referred to as crippling in another time line. Why he hadn't realized that something was wrong with him when he became angry with the Winchesters for caring he didn't know. Their empathy was one of the reasons he'd sided with them against his brothers in the first place.

"Cas? Is that a no? "

Blinking, he pulled himself out of his thoughts. "Sorry. " He stepped around to look straight on at Bela, finally standing so she could see him. She looked up, her eyes growing wide and her mouth dropped open when she saw him. "What?" She started to say, and then took in a breath, almost straining for the air. "What are you?"

"Bela?"

She looked at Dean, frowned and then looked back at Cas, wonder in her eyes. "I can see him." She blinked back fresh tears. "He's beautiful."

Dean gave Cas an assessing look. "If you say so."

The angel looked at her, his expression confused for the moment it took him to realize what was happening. She was piercing the veil. It was something that happened to those under contract in their last hours. He had even added it to Dean's contract because he knew it had happened to the Hunter the first time and he didn't want to deprive him of any advantages it would give him. It should allow him to see the true face of the demons hiding in human flesh. What Cas had not realized, was that it would also allow someone to see an angel residing in a human vessel. Apparently, it also protected them from having their eyes burned out from the sight of it. Still, feeling that safer would be better than sorry, he quickly moved to stand behind Bela again.

"Cas?"

"She has only hours until her contract comes due. Being this close to the end is allowing her to see that which is hidden."

Dean shifted uncomfortably. "So what's hidden about you?"

Castiel waved his hands down his body. "What you are seeing isn't my true form. Most people find the sight of it to be too much to handle. I am amazed that seeing what she did didn't… damage her."

"And it just keeps getting better and better." Dean gave his head a shake, obviously choosing to set aside this latest revelation. "Never mind. Back to the question I was asking. Do you know anything about her contract?"

Cas tilted his head, studying her. Looking a little self-conscious, he raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

Hissing, Bela seized up and struggled against the ropes tying her to the chair. Writing started to appear across her body.

"What the Hell?" Dean asked, twisting his head as he tried to make sense of the words.

Standing in a position physically similar to Dean's, Cas answered. "Crossroad deals are written out on the body."

Sam joined them. Crouching down, he tried to read what was written on Bela's arm. Shaking his head, he looked up at Cas. "If I gave you some paper, could you write that out… in English?" They did not need a copy in whatever language this was.

"You don't have enough paper." He snapped his fingers again and a contract, over three inches thick landed on the table next to Sam's laptop with a thud.

While the younger Winchester paged randomly through it, Cas stared at his fingers, frowning. Since Gabriel seemed fond of the finger-snapping thing, he thought he'd try it. However, he was coming to the conclusion that it really wasn't him. With a wave, he cancelled the spell that let them see the contract on Bela's body.

Sam meanwhile, was paging through the paper copy and beginning to realize just how simple Cas' contract was in comparison to the real thing. He flipped to a page about three quarters of the way in and read part of it aloud. "All articles which are excluded shall be deemed included. What the Hell?"

"Precisely." Cas answered. "That is a fairly standard clause for a crossroads deal."

Sam knew when he was beat. "Is there anything we can use in this?"

Cas shook his head. "Not in the time she has left. If she had weeks, maybe…" Briefly, he considered just killing the hounds that would be sent for her, but it wouldn't work. They would just send more and he couldn't watch her forever. Also, there was a good chance that he would blow his cover doing it. While he didn't care if the Hell of this time knew what he was, he knew the information would get leaked to other sources and he wasn't ready to deal with Heaven just yet.

Thinking for a moment, Sam picked up Dr. Benton's now slightly damaged lab book. "What about this. I mean, I don't understand it all, but I think it can work." He knew it was cold, but he would feel better testing it on someone else before using it on Dean anyway.

"Let me guess." Dean said. "All we have to do is drink blood from a baby's skull at midnight."

Sam shook his head. "No, as far as I can tell, there's no black magic involved. It's actually science. Really weird science, but still, just science."

Cas shook his head. "I read it while you were changing. The preparations have to work on the body for several days. She doesn't have the time." He thought for a moment, and then shook his head. "Even time travel wouldn't work to give her the time. The hounds will already have her scent. They would be able to move wherever and whenever she is.

Sam frowned. "You read the entire lab book during the whole minute you had free after helping Dean tie Bela up?"

"Yes."

"And you actually understood it. Amazing." Dean and Sam levelled their guns at the man standing by the door who had just spoken. Pale and slim, with his face crisscrossed with stitches, Doc Benton levelled his own gun back at them. Surprised, Cas realized that he couldn't sense the man. Even standing in front of him, he was only conspicuous by his absence. Benton essentially felt like a moving black hole in reality.

"I've come for my book. I had intended to collect a few parts as well, but you all seem a little occupied. "Both of the Winchesters chambered a round into their guns. The doc smirked. "What part of immortal don't you understand? The guns are useless against me."

Then Bela started to scream.

Concerned, Castiel dropped his vision into the same range hers was currently in to look at the doctor. Angels with their powers intact did not throw up, but he came close. He had never seen anything so twisted before in his life and he had seen things worse than what lay beneath a demon's stolen skin.

In self-defence, Bela finally squeezed her eyes shut and cringed away as much as she could while tied to a chair. "Don't want it, don't want it. Whatever it is you can keep it."

The doc laughed. "You'll change your tune when the hounds come. However, the young man is right. It would take longer than you have to make you immortal. Of course, the other young man, Dean, wasn't it. You would have time."

"No, thanks anyway."

"Dean."

"No Sammy, I mean look at him. I don't even need to know what Bela is freaking out about to know that the answer is no." Dean raised his gun.

The doctor shook his head. "I told you, that won't work."

"Wanna bet?" Every eye in the room focused on the elder Winchester. Cas had just long enough to wonder when Dean had exchanged his usual gun for the Colt before the hunter pulled the trigger.

When the bullet hit Benton, tendrils seemed to spread out from the impact site. Cas watched as they hooked into the doctor's twisted form. He looked away as light suddenly exploded from the point of each attachment, burning away what he believed had been the doctor's soul.

The body slumped to the floor, very dead and very empty.

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Three men and one woman stood near a cabin looking down into a very deep hole. An old refrigerator, wrapped in chains as a precaution, lay at the bottom of it. A red lab book sat on top of it, as if it were an odd spray of flowers laid out on a coffin.

"Enjoy oblivion doc." Dean said before he started to shovel dirt into the hole. His brother soon joined in. Cas and Bela watched from the sideline. After a few minutes, Cas interrupted them. "May I?"

Nodding, Sam and Dean backed away. "Go for it."

With a wave of his hand, the hole filled in. You would in fact, have been hard pressed to tell that one had ever been dug there. Dean passed his shovel over to Sam and his younger brother nodded before heading over to the Impala.

Cas moved away as well, actually picking up on the fact that Dean wanted a private word with Bela.

Bela looked up at the night sky. "Not much longer now."

"No, guess not." Dean studied her face for a few moments. "Bela… If you want, I could use the Colt on you. I'm pretty sure that if you got killed with that, that there wouldn't be anything left for the dogs to take."

She took in a deep breath. "Oblivion instead of Hell." She shook her head. "It's probably the better choice, but… I can't. I know what's waiting for me. I know eventually I'll become…" She stopped, shook her head and had to smile. "Even now, I'm pretty sure I can find an angle to work."

He had to smile. "If anyone can, it's you."

"Hey, Dean."

"Yeah?"

"I know you'd be doing it more to keep your brother safe than to help me get revenge, but… If you do go after Lilith, roast the bitch in my name too."

He nodded.

Bela jerked her head, listening to something he couldn't hear. "Now get out of here, please."

She waited until he was out of sight before allowing herself to cry one more time.

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Sam and Dean waited until morning before going back for her body. They found blood, giant paw prints and a dragline through the forest, but after three hours of searching were unable to find anything else.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 9

Cas stood outside a house in Pontiac Illinois and watched the family that lived there go through their morning routine. Although he hadn't spoken yet, he could feel that his vessel, Jimmy, was awake and also watching.

Despite the tests of faith he had put Jimmy through before the man said yes, Castiel hadn't realized until recently that James Novak was his True Vessel. Even after Cas had been smote and brought back twice, had risen to a higher choir, had received the powers of an archangel, had held and used the power of 50,000 souls and had added the power of Heaven's weapons to his own, Jimmy was still intact. He probably wouldn't have survived the purgatory souls, but even Castiel wasn't sure that he himself would have lasted much beyond the future he had seen.

'Why are we here?' Jimmy's voice was quiet, but tinged with anger.

"I am considering doing something foolish." Time was fluid, sometimes you could change it, and sometimes you couldn't. More than that though, how you travelled it wasn't always the same. Castiel suspected that as long as he didn't return to the time he came from and attempt to merge with that self, that he and by extension Jimmy, would continue as a joined entity separate from their selves of this time. The changes they made to time could effect their now selves, but it wouldn't effect them. In this way, they stood not so much outside of the flow of time, but sort of one step to the side of it.

Cas shook his head. This was why time travel was easier to explain with numbers than with words.

Tilting his head, he and Jimmy both watched as a younger (mentally at least) Jimmy Novak exited his home in Pontiac Illinois to head to work. He kissed his wife and daughter goodbye and got into his car.

"I can't change what has happened to you, but I may be able to change what happens to him. In fact, if things work out, we may already have done so." If Dean stayed out of Hell and alive, there shouldn't be a reason for the Castiel of this time to seek a vessel.

Jimmy was quiet for a very long time. 'Yes, please. Amelia, Claire…they wouldn't have to be alone this time.' There was another long pause, but Castiel could feel Jimmy thinking. 'He… I…" The sigh that followed was felt more than heard. 'That me, he may still need some sense knocked into him.'

Cas nodded. "We'll see what we can do once Dean's contract finishes."

Cas walked away from Jimmy's home, moving from there to Bobby's living room in the space of three steps.

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Bobby was packing up his supplies. It had taken him a while, but he'd finally found a ritual that would let them track Lilith. He wasn't sure that now was a good time to go after the super powered bitch, but he suspected that Dean was afraid that he'd end up checking out and leave Sam still in her crosshairs when he did.

Invisible, Castiel watched the hunter for a few minutes. He'd looked around the house, but everything seemed safe, quiet even. While Bobby was busy in the kitchen, he walked over to the desk to see what the man had been researching recently. He sat down in the chair behind it rather suddenly, when he realized that other than the books Bobby would have been using to try to track Lilith, the rest of them were all on one subject.

Bobby was pulling some rather dangerous herbs out of the hidden bottom of a drawer in the kitchen when he heard a sound in the library. Pulling a sawed off shotgun off the inside of one of the cabinets, he carefully moved into the other room. Seeing Cas at his desk and flipping through one of his books made him wish he'd grabbed heavier artillery, like a bazooka.

Or a nuclear warhead.

Cas looked up from what he was reading and Bobby's hands tightened on the gun.

"You truly are an amazing man, Bobby Singer."

Bobby licked lips that had suddenly gone dry. "I was kinda hoping you'd tell me I was barking up the wrong tree."

Cas shook his head. "I would, but even with all the practice I've had, I'm still not very good at lying to a direct question." He put down the book he'd been looking at, the front cover depicting an angel in flight, sword drawn with Heaven lit up behind it.

"So, you're a…"

"Don't."

Bobby swallowed the rest of his words and cleared his throat to try something else. "Why not?"

Castiel cast his eyes upward. "You never know who is listening."

Bobby could have sworn that someone had just spiked an icicle into his spine. "And the who you're worried about would be a bad thing?"

"Very."

"Because?"

Bobby tried to jerk out of the way as the angel was suddenly beside him. Castiel latched onto his arm and by the time the hunter finished his attempt to escape, they were somewhere else.

Bobby stumbled slightly as Cas let go. Looking around, he was surprised to find himself standing in a room that looked like it belonged in a Victorian manor house.

"Where are we?"

"A safe house. It has the protections we need to allow us to have our discussion."

"Okay then. How 'bout you tell me everything."

One look at the expression on Cas' face had Bobby wondering what he'd just let himself in for.

"Two days after Sam died, Dean went to the crossroads and sold his soul to bring his brother back. Originally, I was not there to stop it…"

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Dean looked at his watch for a third time. "Damn it, it's not like Bobby to be late."

As if speaking about it made it happen, Bobby's rattletrap of a car came lumbering down the road just then.

"Finally."

The man got out and Dean immediately snapped to attention. Bobby had his game face on. Something had happened, something bad.

"Well come on boy, don't stand there gawking at me. Give me some help here."

Blinking, Dean moved to help the older man. Maybe he was just imagining that something was wrong?

The man's movements were quick, but jerky.

No, no he wasn't imagining it.

Bobby piled equipment into Dean's arms, but he wouldn't look him in the eye. Gritting his teeth, the younger man dragged the stuff into the old house they were using. He wanted to sit the man down and interrogate him, but he knew Bobby well enough to know that it wouldn't get him anywhere. The older hunter would tell them what was going on when he was good and ready.

Sam looked up as they both came into the room. "Glad you finally made it Bobby. Dean here was going to start climbing the walls."

"Yeah, yeah. Took me a little longer than I expected to get everything together."

Dean frowned at him. "Uh, huh." He was fairly certain that whatever was going on was directly related to why Bobby had been late. Still, he'd let it go, for now. "You sure this will work?"

Bobby started to set out a map and an odd device mounted on a tripod. "Yeah." He said, his mind suddenly somewhere else. "I'm sure."

With a location for Lilith found, the inevitable arguing ensued about who would be damn fool enough to go and try to take her out, added to how Dean should be spending the time trying to get clear of his agreement and how Sam and Bobby should just stay back and let Dean go after Lilith on his own.

Bobby had had quite enough of that from the elder Winchester. Without any warning, he swatted the younger man on the back of his head.

"Ow, what the hell Bobby?"

"What the hell is we're not going to let you sacrifice yourself when you don't have to. I admit... Taking Lilith down now would be a sight better than taking her down later, but that don't mean we have to be morons about it. So we make a plan, we go in together and we make sure that she can't get at Sam or anyone else ever again.

"Bobby, you don't have to do this. This is about us. It isn't your fight."

The older hunter glared at him. "The hell is isn't. Family don't end with blood, boy."

Dean didn't know what to say to that.

"Besides, I nicked your distributor cap while you were bringing this stuff in for me. You ain't going nowhere until I say so."

"Okay, okay. Just, please Bobby, don't get dead."

"I'll do my best."

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Dean and Sam were driving down the road, singing badly to a Bon Jovi song when they were pulled over by a cop for a busted tail light.

Sam thought that his brother had completely lost it when he attacked the officer. That was until Dean stabbed him with Ruby's knife and the guy lit up as the demon in him died.

"How did you know?"

"I just knew. I could see its face. Its real face under that one."

They hid the body and the police car once Bobby made sure that the video equipment hadn't been running.

"I think this is what the 'piercing the veil' part of the contract is." Sam told them as they covered the car with brush. "Like Bela was with Cas and Doc Benton."

"Great."

"Yeah, well. If you can see demons, then it might come in handy."

"Well, I'm glad my doomed soul is good for something."

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The three of them checked out the neighbourhood.

"Demon. Another demon…, oh and look some more demons. Yep, this is going to go well."

Sam nodded. "Looks like Lilith travels with an entourage."

"Yep, freaking diva rock queen of the hell set. Just what we needed."

"Yeah, got to wonder though, why the suburbs?"

"Are you kidding me Sammy? Place gives me the creeps just looking at it."

"You two finished with the witty banter yet." Bobby asked them.

"Yeah, yeah. What's got your panties in a twist anyway? You've been weirded out since before we left."

Bobby waved a hand, indicating the area.

"What, Mr. Rodgers' hell bound neighbourhood ain't enough?"

"I said 'before' we left Bobby."

He shook his head. "Don't know what you're talking about."

Dean glared at him.

Bobby sighed. "If I can explain later, I will."

Dean's expression didn't improve much, but it was obvious that he would let whatever it was lie, for now.

They snuck into a nearby house that was for sale and empty and watched in horror as the young girl in the house next to them killed her grandfather with a twist of her hand. Dean could see the demon in her, along with a demon standing on the street, posing as a postman and another inhabiting a next door neighbour. Both were obviously there to guard the house Lilith was in.

Even though they didn't want to have to kill a child, they knew they would to save everyone else.

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When they realized that the place had underground sprinklers, they managed to talk Bobby into blessing the system while they snuck into the house.

Well, they tried to sneak into the house.

Thankfully, Bobby got the Holy Water sprinkler system going just in time to block the rest of the demon-infested neighbourhood from following them.

As Sam and Dean entered the dwelling, they narrowly missed tripping over a rotting corpse that was lying in the foyer.

"Whoa." Dean looked at his brother. "Think Lilith knows we're here?"

Sam threw a quick glance to the door they had just come in, mentally seeing all of the demons that had to be out there, blocked by the Holy Water.

"Yeah, I'd say that's likely."

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Bobby had gone back to the empty house and was watching the demons watch the house Sam and Dean had entered.

"I am uncertain that going after her now is a good idea."

"Ahh." Bobby turned and glared at Castiel. "Don't do that." He said quietly, but with force.

"Apologies." Cas looked out the window at the demons and frowned. "Did the demons know they were there to start with?"

"Nah, I think the boys weren't as stealthy as they'd hoped to be. Why?"

"The 'hex' bags I gave them should have protected them from being sensed by demons. Actually, it should protect them from angels as well, although I left myself a loophole so that I can still find them."

Bobby frowned. Something about that sounded like it would come back and bite the angel on the butt, only he couldn't quite wrap his mind around why. Putting it aside to think about later, he noticed that Cas still had his eyes on the house across from them and was as close to fidgeting as he'd ever seen him.

"If you're so damned worried, why don't you go over there and help?"

For a moment, he thought Cas was going to deny the concern, and then the angel shook his head and answered. "It would give too much away."

Bobby looked at him like he was missing a few screws. "How? You're supposed to be collecting Dean's soul tonight. It would actually be odder for you to not be there."

Cas blinked and gave Bobby a surprised look. "I had not thought of it that way."

Before Bobby could reply, the angel was gone.

"Idjit."

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They were just entering the living room when Dean turned and slapped his hand over the mouth of a man who'd came out of a cabinet they'd just walked past. He recognized the father and could tell that the man was still human.

"Shhh," he whispered. "We're here to help, okay? I'm going to remove my hand and we're going to talk nice and quiet, okay?"

The man started to nod, and then made a startled squeaking noise. Dean stiffened as he heard the sound of wings from behind him. With his hand still over the guy's mouth, and not looking behind him, Dean talked to the being he knew was there.

"It isn't time yet."

"I know. I'm just protecting my investment." Cas told him.

Sam's hand clenched on the knife, even thought he knew it wouldn't do him any good. And even if it would have, before they'd driven the last five miles here Dean had asked, pleaded almost, for Sam to let it go when the time came. To let him go. Sam had agreed, but it would be a second lie if he said that there had been any truth in it.

The guy Dean was holding onto made a muffled questioning sound and Dean carefully removed his hand.

Sam turned his attention from the trench-coated figure behind his brother, to the house's owner.

"Sir, where's your daughter?'

The guy shook his head. "It's not… It's not her anymore."

"Where is she?"

"Upstairs."

When the guy wouldn't go off and hide in the basement without his wife, Dean knocked him unconscious and picked him up over one shoulder. Sam traded Dean the knife for the Colt, which his brother allowed even though he gave him a look that said he knew why he wanted it. Sam ignored the look and started to scout towards the stairway.

Keeping his eyes on the floor, Dean quickly moved the man to the basement. Wanting to speed things up, Cas found some salt in the kitchen and ran a line of it in front of the door. Dean came up, his eyes still fixed anywhere that Cas wasn't.

"Dean?"

"I don't think it's a good idea for me to look at you right now."

"Why…oh. You are piercing the veil."

"Yeah, turns out demons are a lot funkier looking than I'd thought. Don't think I can handle seeing you too."

Cas nodded, even though Dean couldn't see it. He moved behind Dean, so the hunter could finally look up.

Sam, the idiot, had already gone up the stairs. Dean and Cas quickly followed.

Dean was just in time to stop his brother from killing the little girl. "It's not her." Dean looked at the mother and daughter on the bed. "It's not in the girl anymore. The woman's clean too." He grimaced and shook his hand out. He'd had to grab onto the gun by the hammer to stop Sam from pulling the trigger.

They got the mother and the little girl down into the basement before continuing to search the house.

"Could she have gotten outside, through the Holy Water?" Sam asked.

"Lilith is powerful enough that it would be little more than a nuisance." Cas told them.

"Great."

Dean looked at a clock on a nearby mantle and closed his eyes. "Cas, I know you don't owe me any favours and you have every right to say no, but…once you've…once you've." Crap, he couldn't say it. "After, could you get Sam and Bobby, and the family here someplace safe?"

The sound of a door opening at the back of the house interrupted the angel before he could answer. The three of them moved into the kitchen, searching.

"Sam, Dean?"

All three men turned, surprised.

"Bela?" Sam asked.

The English woman stepped into the room with them and smiled.

"How did you…" Sam started to ask, before his brother grabbed him.

"Sam, that's not Bela. It's Lilith."

They moved for their weapons, but didn't even make it halfway to them before Dean found himself pinned to a table and Sam was similarly secured to a wall.

She attempted the same with Cas, who obviously felt the attack, but didn't appear much affected by it.

Lilith, wearing Bela's meat suit, narrowed her eyes at him.

"So you're the naughty little demon who's been playing in my pool." She tossed more power at him, but it just skated off of the surface of his wards.

"Impressive protections, no wonder I haven't been able to find you."

Cas raised an eyebrow. "I hadn't even realized you were looking."

Lilith snarled, accepting his words as the insult they were intended to be. Her expression changed to a smile as the clocks in the house started to chime midnight.

"Thought I'd bring you some help." Cas looked questioningly at her. "You know, with the killing part of the contract."

Cas frowned. There was no killing part in the contract. It was one of the loopholes. The contract said that it would end in a year, it never said Dean would be killed. The growl that came from behind him froze the angel in place. From where he was stuck to the table, Dean looked up towards the sound.

"Oh, so that's what Hellhounds looks like." He managed to say glibly. If Dean had ever wondered what it would feel like for his blood to freeze in his veins, well, he now knew.

Lilith smiled and stepped to the side. "Sic 'em boys."

Things happened all at once.

Cas haphazardly threw power towards the Winchesters, breaking them free of Lilith's bonds, before calling a blade to his hand. He moved to intercept the hellhounds, but really, even for an angel, taking on more than one of them at a time was near impossible in a physical fight.

The second one got past him. It pulled Dean from the table before he could scramble away and tore into him.

"No!" Sam tensed to leap for his brother when Lilith got in front of him.

"Yes." She said, raising a hand.

What she would have done, he didn't know. He grabbed her by that arm, pulling her flush to him.

"Why Sammy, she never knew you were interested."

"Yeah, that's a pity."

The Colt was an old gun. He was only able to pump two bullets into her before she managed to wrench herself free of him.

Gasping, her body lighting up and tendrils of black smoke escaping from her mouth, she backed away from him, looking around the room.

Dean was torn up, badly. He wouldn't last long. Sam still had the gun trained on her, but looked to be moments away from moving to help his brother, and the upstart little demon was killing the last Hellhound.

She looked at Cas a little closer, her eyes widening even as she coughed up a gout of black smoke. "You, your kind isn't supposed to be here yet."

Bloody blade in hand, Cas looked her over with a confused expression on his face.

"What?"

"Ang…" The rest of the word was lost in the sound of the Colt being fired. The bullet took her in the head. Jerking, she lit up across her body. Wounds started to appear, obviously inflicted when Bela had died. Gaping gashes ran down her frame, something had eaten a hole in her stomach and other parts of her appeared to have been chewed on. Eyes now staring at nothing and mouth open in shock, what was left of Bela Talbot's body dropped to the floor, thankfully dead.

Sam just hoped that included Lilith in the deal.

Dropping the gun, Sam dove for his brother.

"Dean."

"Sorry Sammy," Dean gasped out. "Think this is… definitely… it."

Cas was still stuck in place. She had know what he was, but…how? Shaking his head slightly, he went to vanish his weapon.

And realized that it was an angel-killing blade.

He hadn't thought. Dean was about to be attacked, so when he called for a weapon it had been the one he had the most trust in. Grimacing slightly, he finished vanishing it and moved to the Winchesters.

Dean was looking at him.

"Huh, I'll be damned, she was right." The pain in Dean's voice seemed to smooth itself out.

Sam was attempting to staunch his brother's bleeding, but to little effect.

"Who was right?" He asked, using anything to keep Dean conscious.

"Bela… He really is beautiful." Dean's breath left his body and he was still.

"No." Sam's voice was almost a wail and wrapped his arms around his brother, rocking him slightly as he wept.

Cas went down on one knee next to Dean's body and placed his hand on its ravaged chest.

"No!" Sam grabbed Cas' wrist.

The angel looked at him and waited.

And waited.

Finally, he sighed. "Sam, if you intend to use the last loophole, then now would be a good time to do it."

Sam let go of his wrist. "What loophole?" The contract was over, there was nothing left. Cas, Kaseva… He could, would take Dean's soul and… Sam couldn't finish the thought.

"Sam?"

Sam shook his head. "What's left?" He asked hoarsely. Nothing extended past the year except that if he died, he'd just come back to life one more time. How was that useful? Right now, he'd rather be dead as well.

"You still have a resurrection coming to you." Cas said, telling him what he already knew.

Wait. Sam's eyes widened as he finally got the wording.

"A resurrection. It's mine to use, but it doesn't have to be me that it's used on."

Cas nodded.

"But… but you get Dean's soul."

Cas nodded again. "But I have also vowed to never bring anyone back missing something so essential."

Sam just stared at him, his mouth open in shock.

"Well?"

Sam jerked, his mind snapping into place. "Yes. Bring him back, please."

Cas smiled.

Power blew through the neighbourhood. Walls cracked, paint was stripped from wood and stucco crumbled. Yet, where it found a soul, it healed.

Author's note: Yes, Dean is fine. Oh, and in case you're wondering, while Lilith kept Bela's body around to use, Bela wasn't actually still in it.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Author's note: Beware. From here, there be subplots and possibly a lot of chapters where we don't get anywhere.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 10

Dean hadn't expected to see the stars again. Okay, to be perfectly honest, he hadn't expected to see anything again, unless you counted the inside of a demigod as a place.

"Hey." Sam said as he sat down beside him on the hood of the Impala. He passed Dean a beer and opened his own, taking a sip before looking up into the night sky. Dean twisted the cap off his and drank down a quarter of it before returning to his own stargazing.

It had been over a week since they'd ganked Lilith and Cas had returned Dean to life. All of the demons in the neighbourhood had apparently vacated the bodies they were possessing shortly after queen bitch went down. Sam, Dean and Bobby had slipped away easily after that. Cas had disappeared as soon as they were out and that seemed to be that.

Everything should be good. It was done, over. So why did Dean keep feeling like he was waiting for that other shoe to drop?

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Henricksen was going to kill his new partner. Lord knows that the agent knew himself to be a pain in the ass, but this guy… Well, okay. Maybe the fact that he knew more about what was going on out there in the world was the reason he was uncomfortable with the guy taunting their professed pagan witness.

"So tell me. Do you all do that dancing naked under a full moon thing? 'Cause you might almost be worth looking at."

No, he was going to kill him.

The woman looked at SA Dawson and flexed her fingers. Henricksen got the distinct impression that she was envisioning clawing her way into the man stomach to gut him.

"Agent Dawson. Why don't I take over for a bit and you get us some coffee." Victor congratulated himself, he'd managed to say that without gritting his teeth.

"Nah, I think we're both fine, ah…"

Henricksen not so discretely latched his hand onto his 'partners' right shoulder and moved him to the door. "And don't forget the cream and sugar." He said as he shoved the man out of the room and closed the door after him. Taking a deep breath, Victor went back to the table and sat down across from the witness. "Sorry 'bout that."

Delores Douglas, aka Ravenlight did not look impressed. "So, what are you, good cop?

Victor laughed. "Can't say I've ever been accused of that. Look, Ms. Douglas…" His voice petered out as he noticed her annoyed expression. "Or do you prefer Ravenlight?"

She sighed. "Ms. Douglas is fine."

"Thank you. So, you and your group were performing a ritual in the park?"

She nodded. "We were attempting a summoning ritual."

Henricksen fought not to wince at the idea. "Who or…what were you attempting to summon and… did it work?"

Now Henricksen did wince as he watched her flex her fingers again. "Does that question really have any bearing on what happened?"

He tilted his head slightly. "You tell me."

She snorted. "Fine. We were attempting to summon a trickster god. One who is known for intervening on the behalf of a petitioner against dark forces. A member of our group needed the help and she chose this deity. I actually hadn't heard of him before now."

"He got a name?"

"Kaseva."

Victor shook his head. "Can't say I've heard of him either. So, did he show?"

Delores narrowed her eyes at him. "What the hell, yes, yes he showed. How do you think three bank robbers with AK 47s, who were trying to escape through the park, ended up unarmed, naked except for matching sets of pasties made out of the money they'd stolen and tied to a tree?"

Ms. Douglas' voice had risen considerably towards the end of her speech and Victor raised a hand in an attempt to have her calm down.

"I understand. Could you describe the man who did all of that?"

She dropped her face into her hands. "What does it matter?"

"Humour me, please."

"Fine." She thought for a moment. "He was about 5'10'', maybe 5'11". Black hair, blue eyes." She laughed. "And he was wearing a trench coat."

Victor's body seized in place for a moment. It was with some effort that he continued his questioning. "Was there anything else you noticed about him?"

She shrugged. "When he appeared, I could have sworn I heard him mumble something about killing his brother for this."

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Gabriel smiled as he watched his annoyed little brother pace back and forward, speaking in a rant.

"Praying to me. I distinctly remember you said they might pray to me. I don't remember anything about them being able to summon me."

Gabe shrugged. "I didn't think I needed to. It's usually part of the package."

Cas scowled at him.

"Oh, come on bro. Turn that frowny face upside down."

Cas' shoulders twitched. "Do I even want to know what that means?"

Gabriel shook his head. "Look, was being summoned all that bad. I mean, did they have a good reason for it?"

Cas grimaced slightly. "I am not certain. There were these men, with guns, that appeared before they could say anything."

Gabe's mouth dropped open in amazement. "The twenty dollar rose shaped pasties, that was you?"

Castiel suddenly found that the wall next to him was painted an interesting shade of blue. "I had checked up on Dean through his dreams the night before. They were… educational."

Gabriel started to chuckle. "I'm sure they were." He paused. "Speaking of Dean. You wouldn't happen to be ready to tell me when you're from, would you?"

Cas sat down on the couch that suddenly appeared across from his brother. "I really don't know if I can trust you, Gabriel."

"I'm hurt."

"I'm sure." Cas sighed. "Four years."

"What?"

"The when I'm from, it's about four years from now."

"And the apocalypse? I mean your timeline's apocalypse. You seem to have stopped this one."

"We stopped that one as well. The problem was, we… I, managed to almost create a worse one."

"Hmm. So, where was I in all of that?" Gabriel rolled his eyes at his own question. "If I was smart, and I know I am, then I was nowhere near either of them." His smile drooped when he realized that his brother wouldn't meet his eyes.

"Cas?"

Cas looked away.

"Castiel?"

Now his brother was looking at him, his expression shocked.

"How long have you known my name?"

"Oh, since about… two seconds ago." He smirked at his brother's sudden shift to a glare. "It was a lucky guess." He sighed. "So, what happened to me?"

Cas closed his eyes for a moment. "Lucifer killed you." He opened them to see that Gabriel looked like someone had punched him in the stomach.

"Wow. Didn't think it would have come to that." He shook his head. "Doesn't matter. Even if they manage to transfer Lilith's seal to something else, and that's a big if, they don't have a righteous man in Hell to spill blood. And there's no way that even Dean would be stupid enough to make a second deal. So they're out of luck."

Cas nodded. "Yes, there isn't…" His voice faded away and when Gabriel looked at him, he realized his brother's expression was teetering on the edge of terrified.

"Adam." In a flurry of wings Castiel disappeared, leaving Gabriel to wonder what the hell was wrong now.

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Adam Milligan ought to have been having a good day. High School had wrapped, he was starting at the University of Wisconsin in the fall, his summer job didn't start for another week and he had a date. It should have all been good. However, something kept brushing up against the edge of his senses. He'd turned around abruptly three times already, expecting to find someone behind him.

The feeling came and went for a good portion of the day and finally faded out about the time he brought his date home. He was beginning to think that she might have a jealous ex or a big brother he didn't know about. Combined with the fact that he hadn't impressed her with his nervous habit of looking behind him, he suspected a second date wasn't in the cards.

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Cas used up a lot of air, sighing in relief, when he found Adam and Kate Milligan, apparently safe. As far as he could tell, nothing had approached either of them. At first, he was a little worried by Adam's nervousness, but over the course of the day, he came to realize that the boy was enough of a Winchester to feel when something was watching him.

As a precaution, Cas searched the area as well. The ghouls that had originally killed Adam and Kate were not yet in residence and the town held nothing more supernatural than a couple of low powered psychics who didn't even realize they had the ability.

It didn't appear that the boy was being targeted, but he couldn't be sure. Before he left, he attached a very discrete alarm spell to both Adam and his mother. If anything did happen, he'd know about it.

He next found himself at Bobby's place. He needed some advice about Adam, and Bobby was a good choice as he now had some idea of what had originally happened over the next year. However, almost as soon as he got there, he saw something that made him realize there was someone else he should consult. Even if that person probably wouldn't like what he was going to hear and no doubt preferred to never see Castiel again.

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Dean was sitting at a table, at a club, in a high backed u-shaped booth. A scantily clad woman sat on each side of him. His right arm was wrapped around one of them while he was nibbling his way across the shoulder of the one on his left.

He stopped suddenly and looked around before sighing.

"I'm sorry ladies, but it looks like I have some business to conduct." He managed to get them out of the booth and send them on their way. He leaned back into the padded leather and sighed again. "So, are you going to show yourself?"

Cas stood up from the next booth and stepped in front of Dean. The hunter offered him a seat with a wave of his hand and Cas slid into the booth on his left.

"How did you know I was here?"

"I've noticed lately that some of my really good dreams have been taking on an embarrassed tinge. Given you're the only person I know who goes dream walking, it seemed likely for you to be involved and you have to admit, this was a good dream 'til you showed up."

"Sorry."

Dean shook his head. "That part doesn't matter. What does, is why you keep checking on me." He took a deep breath. "I didn't expect to see you again." He paused. "Not if the contract really is over."

Cas could see the slight edge of fear in Dean that it wasn't done. "It is. I've actually come to discuss something else with you and I am also seeking advice, if you are willing to give it."

Dean shrugged. "Sure, what the hell. Although I'm not sure what good my advice will do an ang…Mfff." Dean's eyes went wide as he found Cas' hand over his mouth. Castiel's eyes were equally as wide.

"How?" The angel tilted his head. "Bobby?"

Dean blinked, surprised, but shook his head. "Mfff."

Cas carefully removed his hand from Dean's mouth. "We need to discuss…much. In fact, it is past time we did."

"Yah think?" Dean grit his teeth. He'd promised himself he wouldn't get all pissy if he ever got to confront Cas with what he'd seen and guessed the night he'd died. He intended to hold to that promise.

"We cannot do it here. Someone could hear."

Dean looked around. "We're inside my freakin' head."

"Exactly."

Dean was sure that he'd just been insulted, but he let it go.

"Where then?"

Cas tilted his head in thought. "How would you and Sam feel about a cabin holiday?"

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Sam tossed the last duffle bag at Dean and turned back to where Bobby was standing on the veranda. "Are you sure you don't want to come with us. Dean says the cabin he's borrowed is large enough for the three of us."

Bobby shook his head. "You boys could use a little time away from hunting and everything that reminds you of it."

Sam gave the older hunter a wry look. "And you could use a little time away from us, I suspect."

Bobby shrugged. "It wouldn't be remiss."

"Sam, you ready?" Dean asked from the bottom of the stairs.

"Yep." Sam gave the older man a handshake that turned into half a hug. He clattered down the stairs and past his brother.

"Hey Bobby." Dean called up to him. "If anything comes up, give us a call, okay?"

"Will do, oh and Dean?"

"Yeah?"

Bobby watched Sam get into the car before continuing. "Try and actually get some holiday in with whatever it is you're up to."

Dean's mouth fell open for a couple of seconds, before he snapped it shut. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Besides, Bobby was one to talk. From what Cas had said Bobby knew what was up with him and hadn't said anything. This was something Dean intended to get into with the older hunter when they got back. Right now though, he just didn't have the time.

"Uh huh." Bobby said, pulling the younger man out of his thoughts. "Just remember to duck when it hits the fan."

Dean couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, okay. We'll see you later man."

"Drive safe."

Dean slid into his seat and started the car.

Sam looked up from whatever it was that he was messing with on his phone. "So, where is this cabin, anyway? And if you say Vegas, I'm out of here."

Dean laughed. "Not unless they moved the show to Colorado."

Sam shook his head. "You actually chose nature over gambling, I'm impressed."

"Yeah, well…It's been a long time since I got to go fishing and enjoy the quiet."

"Oh joy, worms on hooks."

"Don't worry, I'm sure there will be geek things for you to do. Ow." Dean glared at his brother and gave the ear that Sam had just flicked a rub.

"If not I can always spend the time tormenting you." The younger Winchester said with a smile.

Dean had to grin back. It had been a long time since he'd seen Sam smile so easily. He just hoped that seeing who else would be at the cabin wouldn't steal it away once more. He really didn't want overstressed Sam back anytime soon.

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Victor pulled out the disposable cell phone he'd purchased a while ago and turned it over in his hands. Before the Winchesters had driven off into the sunset, or rather, sunrise, they had left him some contact information. Since it was too dangerous for an FBI agent to go contacting believed to be dead serial killers, a man named Bobby was to be their go between.

He wasn't sure that he needed to contact the boys about their 'friend'. I wasn't as if anyone was going to figure out what had really happened. Theories about the bank robber's fate were falling into two camps. One very small side said that one or more martial artists with mad origami skills and a pot of glue had taken out the bad guys and redressed them in money in less than five minutes. The other side held that the women holding the ritual, all of whom had some form of self-defence training, were the ones that had done the deed. The first idea was largely ridiculous and the second was no better.

Of course, what he suspected the truth was, was even more preposterous.

In any case, no one was able to prove anything and they were only sweating the details because the bad guys' lawyers might have a chance at using the incident to let them walk.

That wasn't why Victor called though. The truth was, he simply wanted to know.

"Singer Salvage."

"Hi, would that be Bobby Singer?"

"That's the name on the business."

"Ah, you don't know me, but..." Victor winced over his wussy approach. Ever since being possessed, he'd felt like he'd lost some of his edge. "Look, my name is Victor Henricksen. I believe we have a couple of acquaintances in common."

"You want to vague that up for me a little more?"

"We both know two young men who hunt. I'm, well I guess I'm trying to get hold of them.

"Uh, huh." He heard the man on the other end of the line blow out a breath. "Is it an emergency? 'Cause they're kinda unavailable at the moment."

"No, no. It's just that I wanted to ask them a question about… someone."

"Well, maybe I can help."

Victor's face scrunched up in uncertainty. "What the Hell. You wouldn't happen to know anything about someone called Kaseva, would you?

He heard the other man sigh. "What did he do?"

Half way through explaining the situation, Victor wondered if he should stop. If he didn't, he was worried that Singer would hurt himself laughing.

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About 150 miles out from Bobby's place, Sam asked his first question.

"So, how long are we going to stay?"

Dean shrugged. "Don't know, for as long as we can stand it, I guess."

Sam nodded.

Another hundred miles later, the scenery was boring him enough to ask another question.

"I'm surprised you were ready to go back to Colorado. After the demon siege, I'd have thought you'd avoid the state a little longer.

"Not like it's the state's fault.

They ate lunch and Sam drove for a while, the two of them switching back after they had supper.

"So, who did you borrow this place from?"

Dean shrugged. "Someone Bobby knows."

Sam waited. "What, don't you have any more information than that?

Dean shook his head. "No, not really."

"Oh." Sam mulled that over for all of ten seconds.

"So what's really going on Dean?"

His brother winced. "We're only 20 miles out, I'll tell you when we get there."

"Dean." Sam said, his teeth clenched.

His brother sighed. "Cas is going to meet us out there."

"What!"

Dean should have remembered Bobby's advice and ducked.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 11

Cas could hear them arguing as they walked up to the cabin. When he opened the door and interrupted them, Sam was in full glare mode. Dean however, appeared relieved for the reprieve.

Cas moved back and waved them in. Sam stepped in and then stumbled slightly. He straightened up, looked around and then frowned at Cas, which was an improvement, because mere moments ago he'd been heading towards yelling at him.

As Dean stepped in, he felt his body relax. He gave Cas a look. "Did you just put a calming spell or something on us?"

Castiel looked from one brother to the next. "Not exactly. I should have warned you, I created this safe house here because the area has a negative effect on supernatural beings, regardless of what they are. The protections I have on the cabin block it."

Dean rubbed at his arms. "Why would that affect us? We're not supernatural.

Cas looked at him with some disbelief.

"We're not." He looked at his brother. "Okay, so Sam had some psychic stuff, but he isn't using it and I've got nothing.

Cas tilted his head, looking him in the eyes. "And yet, you've just spent the last half hour feeling like the air was sandpaper against your skin."

Sam's forehead creased in a frown. "More like a cheese grater."

Cas nodded. "That is not unexpected. Not given what Azazel did to you as a child."

Sam froze.

"Wait, what? What did he do to Sam?"

"As I said earlier, we have much to discuss."

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As Cas showed them to the couch in the great room area of the cabin, Dean took a quick look around. The cabin hadn't seemed like anything much when they'd come up to it. Solid and obviously recently repaired in a few sections, but otherwise nothing special.

Inside was another matter. It was still a cabin, but one that looked like it'd had a few hundred thousand dollars and a decorator thrown at it. He also suspected that it had been mojo'd to be a little larger on the inside than it was on the outside.

The two brothers sank down into the much too comfy leather sofa while Cas sat down in one of two matching chairs across from it. A giant leather ottoman that doubled as a coffee table sat between them.

"Okay," Dean said, looking from his brother, to Cas and then back to Sam. "What did he do to Sam?"

Castiel looked at Sam and the young man realized that he was giving him the chance to answer that question. Dean wouldn't like the answer no matter who gave it, but while he would be angry with Sam, it would probably blow over faster if he were the one who told him and not Cas.

"When I was in Cold Oak, Azazel came to me in a dream and told me that… that the night he killed Mom, he fed me his blood."

Dean looked suitably horrified. "And you didn't think to tell me about this until now?" His voice wasn't quite at yell level, but it was close.

Sam looked away. "I couldn't." He focused again on his brother. "I was as horrified as you are, more so even. And then everything went nuts, with your deal… It just didn't seem as important. And maybe it was stupid, but… it was like, if I didn't talk about it, it wouldn't be real."

Dean felt the anger that had started to build up inside of him, leave him in a rush. "Damn it Sammy… ah, what the hell, I'd have wanted to do the same if it were me." He looked over at Cas. "So, is it hurting him? Doing anything to him?"

"Not exactly. Now that Azazel is dead, the psychic powers that Sam and the others had access to have gone dormant. There are other powers he could access, but he would only be able to gain enough power to use them by drinking an addictive substance. Sadly, the demon blood in him also makes him more susceptible to the addiction than the average person."

Sam made a slightly pained sound. "So are you going to tell me what this stuff is, or do I have to find out by accident?"

Cas mulled that over. If he never told Sam, then maybe he would never be tempted to try. However, it was more likely that if he didn't tell him, that someone would come along to fill Ruby's place and get him addicted all over again.

He decided to go with forewarned is forearmed.

"You would have to take in more of what you already have."

"What?"

"You would have to drink demon blood." Cas paused and tilted his head. Technically, he knew that people could turn a greenish tint, but he'd never seen it so pronounced before now.

"Why would I ever do that?"

Cas shrugged. "All that would be needed is the right approach. From what I understand, it is surprising what one will do during sex."

Dean shook his head and his lips twisted up into a smirk. "No, not really."

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Sam shook his head. "So, what… You had us come out here to stage an intervention for something I will never do?"

Cas raised an eyebrow at that statement, but let it pass. "No, I actually went to Dean for some advice. When I did, he… He let me know that he had discovered one of my secrets."

"One?" Dean asked, clearly worried by what else the angel could be hiding.

"Yes." Cas took a deep breath. "My name is Cas…"

"Kaseva," Sam said. "Yeah, we know."

Cas shook his head. "No, or… Not only. Given that I recently reacted to a summons, I am tied to that name more than I would have thought, but it is not my original one. Nor am actually I a pagan god.

'What?"

"My name is Castiel… and I am an angel of the Lord."

"That's not possible." Sam blurted out. Dean however, just nodded, accepting the information.

Cas blinked at the reversal of roles between the two brothers from the first time he had met them. Dean was now the believer and Sam the sceptic.

Sam looked at his brother, a frown between his eyes. "Tell me you're not buying this."

Dean glanced up at Cas and the angel realized that Dean wasn't seeing him as he appeared now, but rather as Dean had seen him in the moments before his death.

"Yeah, I am."

"Dean…"

"I saw him, Sammy."

Sam looked at him, his confusion clear on his face.

"When I was dying, when he brought me back, I saw him. More than that, I know him."

"Ahhh…."

Dean pointed a finger at his brother. "Don't go there."

"Where should he not go?" Cas asked.

"Anyplace with a gutter." Was Dean's reply.

"So…bowling would be a bad thing?"

Now both of the brothers were looking at him with dazed expressions on their faces.

"Okay," Sam said. "Maybe I'm starting to believe, just a little."

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"Let's say I do believe you're what you say you are. Why would an angel go and buy someone's soul?" Sam asked him.

"As I have said, souls are power…"

"Wait." Dean interrupted. "You mean you really do that 'taking a soul into you' thing."

"Not…currently. Although I have done it in a time of need."

Dean frowned, remembering something. "Right, so if you're not holding souls, who were you talking with?"

"My vessel, Jimmy."

Both of the Winchesters stiffened. "You're possessing someone?"

Cas sighed. "Yes, he agreed to this."

"Uh huh." Sam gave him an assessing look. "But did he really know what he was getting into?"

"I did try to prepare him for it, but no. I do not believe so. Not even when he agreed to it a second time."

Sam and Dean looked at each othe. Dean shrugged.

"We seem to have gotten off the subject." Cas told them.

Dean nodded. "If you didn't buy my soul to use as a battery, why did you do it?"

"I did it so you could be sitting here asking me that question and not chained to a rack in Hell."

Dean pulled in a strained breath. "Yeah, even being a copper top would be better than that."

Cas frowned, not getting the reference. As that wasn't unusual with Dean, he simply ignored it.

Sam shook his head. "But, why did you do it? I mean, I'm grateful that you did," and wasn't that something he still had trouble wrapping his mind around. Because he was angry at this being for almost taking his brother. Angry at himself that he couldn't seem to stop it. And yet also thankful for what Cas had done in the end. Sam pushed those thoughts to the side, now wasn't the time. "But why let us believe you were a demon and then a pagan god. Why not tell us the truth? Why not just help without all the trickery?"

Cas' expression was pained. "I had to make things appear as they were intended to be. First, because large and sudden changes would try to reset themselves. The more I could keep things the same, or at least similar, the more I could alter and have it stay that way. Second, because if I hadn't, someone else most likely would have stepped in to fix it. In fact, that danger still exists."

"Changes?"

Cas blew out a breath. "Originally, when you made the deal with the crossroads demon, I wasn't there to stop it."

"Originally?" The brothers asked together. They exchanged looks and Dean continued the conversation. "You make it sound like, I don't know, like you went back in time to keep me out of Hell."

Cas nodded. "Essentially yes, that is what I did. With any luck it will alter the rest of what was to come."

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Victor noticed how wary Ms. Douglas was as she opened the door to her home. She looked at him, and then her eyes swept the street.

"Your partner not here?"

Henricksen grimaced slightly at the mention of agent Dawson. It had gotten to the point with him that Victor had, as discreetly as possible of course, tested the man to see if he were a demon. But no, as far as he could tell, he was just an asshole. "No, he isn't with me. Actually, I was wondering if I could ask you something… off the record."

That got him a raised eyebrow. "I didn't think anything was 'off the record' with the FBI.

"This is."

She studied him for a moment. "Okay, come on in."

"Thanks."

Her living room was tidy and comfortable and other than for a few scattered items did not look like what he expected the home of a practicing pagan to look like. She indicated the couch and he sat at one end while she took the other.

"So, what can I do for you, Agent Henricksen?"

He blew out a breath. "I was wondering if you could get me a copy of the summoning ritual your group was performing the day of the incident."

She laughed. "Going to try it yourself?" The smile dropped off her face when he didn't answer. "You know things like that…"

"Shouldn't be played with, yeah, I know. To be honest, I'm not intending to use it. I don't have a lot of experience when it comes to rituals. However, I know people who do. In fact, it's one of those people who want a look at it."

She stared at him for a few moments longer before sighing. "Okay, but please, if you do go and decide to use it after all, or if your friend does, then follow the instructions. 'Cause if this blows up in your face, it will take your face."

Henricksen nodded. "Got it."

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"Okay, so… time travel."

"Yes."

The brothers looked at each other. Dean decided to let Sam field the next question.

"So, what did happen originally?"

"Dean sold his soul to bring you back to life. He also got one year. You spent the year trying to break the deal. When that didn't work you, Dean and Bobby attempted to kill Lilith, since she held Dean's contract. Ruby also ended up involved, until Lilith took over her body. In the end, Dean died, his soul went to Hell and Lilith escaped. You tried to find ways to get Dean out, but were unable to. Eventually your despair left you wide open to Ruby's manipulations once she had returned in a new body. Oh, Lilith also killed everyone at the police station in Monument after you left, Bela managed to steal the Colt just before that and you, Sam, spent about a hundred days trapped in Tuesday watching Dean die, rather than the thirty or so you were trapped there for this time.

Sam had turned green again and Dean was finding it difficult to breathe.

"So I shouldn't even be here."

Cas sighed. "That's where things become complicated."

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"Well, he's got to be somewhere." Crowley said, looking over his people. "He sold his soul, got ripped to shreds by hellhounds and died. There was enough blood there to tell us that much. Now I know we never got the paperwork on this, but he can't just have up and disappeared."

A buxom young woman to his right shook her head. "Alistair says he's nowhere to be found and he's been looking. He thinks that whoever took the contract has more pull than even he'd realized."

Crowley snorted. Of course whoever it was had pull. Something that could have killed those hellhounds and Lilith so she couldn't get her blood covered little hands on that soul could probably set up his own pocket of Hell wherever he wanted. Even Earth.

"So, we've got angels rampaging through Hell, looking for the righteous man, and we can't even find him ourselves. We need to give them something and get them out of there. I want Hell scoured top to bottom, I also want a team searching here on Earth. And find out what happened to his body. If I have to, I'll fake something with that. Also, check up on his brother, if you can find him. I know he's got some kind of protection that's blocking us, so you'll just have to do it the human way. Hell, hire some private detectives if you have to.

Without another word, all of his people scattered to their appointed jobs. Once Crowley was alone, he let a smile work its way across his face. Truth was he didn't care if he never found Dean Winchester, just as long as the first seal stayed intact. Not having Lilith breathing down his neck was an added plus. Now all he had to do was get rid of the angels and make sure that no one managed to remake the last seal and then...

Well, he'd already become the King of the Crossroads. Give him a few more years and he'd see if he couldn't turn that into being the King of Hell. The only real competition he had in that area was Alistair, and the demon was much happier down in the pit, tending to the damned, rather than having to deal with the minutiae of running Hell.

Crowley poured himself a glass of Scotch and leaned back in his chair, sipping it slowly. He'd have to start consolidating his strength in a few areas, but once everyone realized that Lucifer wasn't getting out of the box anytime soon, well, they'd need someone to turn to.

He'd just make sure that that someone was him.

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"I'm supposed to kick start the freaking apocalypse?"

"Originally, yes. That is what happened."

Dean realized that a panic attack sounded good about then.

"So I ended the world?"

Cas shook his head. "No, actually Sam was the one who almost did that."

"What?"

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Agent Dawson watched Agent Henricksen leave the Douglas residence. He didn't know why his partner had gone to see her off duty and for now, he didn't intend to try to find out. He was reasonably certain that she'd tip Victor off if he questioned her. He'd just add it to the report he'd been ordered to compile on the man. One more odd incident to add to a growing list of them. Eventually, they'd add up to something.

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"I think at this point, alcohol is required." Dean said.

From the place where he had his head between his knees while trying not to hyperventilate, Sam nodded. "Hell, yes."

Cas agreed. "Beer, or…"

"Stronger," Dean said. "Much stronger."


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

See further disclaimer at end of chapter.

Author's note NEW: Apologies. I've gone and let a crossover wander into the story. I'm not actually doing anything with it at the moment, so basically it's just sort of there. It's possible nothing will come of it. See further disclaimer at end of chapter.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 12 

Dean cracked one of his eyes open and immediately wished he hadn't. Groaning, he closed it again and shifted in the chair he'd fallen asleep in.

"Good morning."

He cracked his eyes open again to see the angel sitting in the other chair, looking none the worse for wear. A thing that Dean thought was totally unfair as he remembered enough of the night before to know that Cas had consumed four bottles of alcohol to the one each he and Sam had gone through.

"Too loud, too bright. Turn it off."

"That would be the sun. It would be ill advised for me to do so."

Dean focused on the angel. "Um, right. Don't do that."

"Would you like some breakfast? I believe eggs are good for hangovers."

A groan came from the couch. "Nooo, no food, please."

Eyes a little further open than they had been, Dean managed to make out the image of his brother, laid out on the leather sofa.

"Despite your protests, you will feel better if you eat. The bathroom is over there if you need it." They both squinted at Cas, trying to see in what direction he was pointing.

Dean lurched to his feet. "Dibs." Staggering slightly, he headed off to the bathroom.

Cas considered waiting until both of the Winchesters had used the facilities before curing them of their hangovers, but since it appeared that Sam would probably start throwing up as soon as he stood up, he only waited until Dean was done.

Even though he was no longer in danger of an extended visit with the porcelain god, Sam still needing to use the bathroom. He headed for it while Dean flopped back down in the chair and gave Cas a low powered glare. "Why didn't you do that first thing?"

Cas gave him a small smile. "It wouldn't have been as funny."

"It would have been funnier if you'd waited until gigantor had at least one puking bout."

Dean turned towards the voice. "Oh crap, it's you."

Gabriel smirked at the hunter. "Why Dean'o, is that anyway to treat your god-in-law."

"What?" Dean and Cas said together.

Sam came out of the bathroom right then, freezing when he saw the trickster. "Crap."

"And I'm just feeling the love."

Cas sighed. "Loki, why are you here?"

Gabriel snorted. "I think the cat's out of the bag on that one bro."

"You're an angel!" This time is was Dean and Sam who managed to end up in sync.

"Duh. Anyway, just stick with Loki. "Cause I'm not telling you who I really am." He turned to Cas and pointed his index finger at him. "And neither are you."

Reluctantly, Cas nodded. "What did you mean, god-in-law?"

"Ah." Loki's grin turned into a grimace. "About that."

"What the hell did you do?" Dean asked, certain that whatever was now going on, he wasn't going to like it.

"It's not like it was intentional."

"Loki!"

"Alright, alright. I was checking up on that summons you were complaining about, and I may have put a little more juice into your whole pagan godhood than I originally told you I did."

One angel and two men groaned.

"What exactly does that mean?" Cas asked.

"Well, your cover is really good and because you marked Dean," Gabriel pointed at the elder Winchester's left shoulder. "He's now yours."

"Excuse me?" Dean asked, his eyes wide. "I just finished getting out of a contract with this guy, I'm not doing another one because you screwed up."

Loki rolled his eyes. "It's not that kind of a thing."

"Then what kind is it?" Sam asked, clearly as unhappy with the situation as his brother was.

"Mmm, gift registries and china patterns?""LOKI!"

Gabriel cringed. It seemed his brother had his own command voice.

"Chill bro, chill. He's a warrior in your name."

Sam frowned. "Like a paladin?"

It was Dean's turn to frown. "What, like the western?"

Gabriel raised an eyebrow at that. "Well, at least you watch decent old time TV, but no, more like…"

"Dungeons & Dragons?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, like that."

Dean shook his head at his brother. "You are such a geek."

Sam bitch faced him and then ignored him.

Cas' brow creased in thought. "That might explain why you are reacting to the area. I thought it was for another reason, but this is more likely."

"Why?"

"As my 'Paladin', you would receive certain strengths through me. Since that power is supernatural in nature, it is reacting to you as if you were a supernatural creature."

Dean looked ready to pull his hair out by the roots. "Great, just great. What strengths?"

"Slight increase in physical strength, stamina and you're probably healing faster than you use to." Loki told him. "Also any magic used against you will have a better chance of failing. Poisons too. Oh, and of course, you can call for Cas… or rather, Kaseva's advice or intervention when faced with a problem."

"And that's it?"

"Pretty much. Other things could show up after awhile, but I've got no idea what they would be. They kind of depend on the god you serve."

Cas pinched at the bridge of his nose to stave off a headache and groaned. Dean nodded in agreement with the sentiment.

"How do we get rid of it?"

Loki shrugged. "Cas should be able to release you from his service, but you might want to consider not doing that just yet."

Dean's eyes were narrowed to mere slits. "Why not?"

"Because, a god having claim to your loyalty would make it more difficult for the angels to mess with you. And believe me, they'll try."

Cas nodded. "It would be best to wait until we are certain the seals are no longer in danger of being broken…" He took in the expression on Dean's face and sighed. "However, I understand your position. I am completely willing to break the bond, as long as it can be done safely."

"Okay." Dean said. "So what do we have to do to bre…?"

A knock came from the front door of the cabin, interrupting Dean. They all turned to look at it.

Dean glanced back at Castiel. "Do you actually know anyone, other than Sam and I, that knocks?"

Cas shrugged. "Bobby, but if there was a problem I would have thought he'd call one of you first."

The knock came again and all four men shrugged before Cas went to the door and opened it.

An older man, with greying hair and a military bearing that no amount of casual clothing could hide stood at the threshold. "Hey." He held out a hand. "Name's Jack, I'm your neighbour from the other side of the lake.

Cas stared at the offered hand until Dean and Gabriel each gave a none to convincing cough. Starting slightly as he realized his error, the angel reached out and shook the man's hand.

Several awkward seconds went by and when it was obvious that Cas didn't realize he should be saying something, Gabriel stepped forward, hand extended.

"Hey, names Luke." He said as he shook hands. "You've just met my brother, Cas, who isn't quite awake yet. And these are our cousins, Sam and Dean."

Both hunters were too use to making things up on the fly to react to suddenly being Cas and Loki's cousins. They just nodded at the man. "Morning." They said together.

Jack nodded at them. "Just thought I'd come introduce myself. I kept missing you back when you first bought the place." He looked around at as much of the cabin as he could see, nodding.

"You did a lot of work in here. More than I'd realized. Guess it was a good thing I was away a lot of the time. I hate having to listen to construction."

"Ah, yeah." Dean said, agreeing with the man. "We just came out to help our… cousin, break the place in, now that it's done."

"Good, good. Well, hope I'll see you boys around."

"You as well, sir." Dean replied, almost wincing when the 'sir' practically forced its way out of his mouth. It had been drilled into him by his father and had become a knee jerk reaction to almost any older military man he'd ever met. He was sure the man had noticed it, even if he didn't say anything.

Jack gave them another nod and a wave and headed back to the trail that ran around the lake to his cabin. They watched him go for about a minute and then quietly closed the door.

"Well, that was random." Dean said.

Everyone in the room nodded in agreement.

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Gabriel turned to his brother. "Before we deal with Dean's little problem, I was wondering if you've fixed whatever it was that sent you flying off last time?"

Cas frowned, searching his memory.

"You mentioned Adam."

Castiel stiffened. With Dean's knowledge of what Cas was and trying to explain to the brothers what was to have come, the reason he first went to talk with them had fallen to the back of the list.

"Adam, the first man? Sam asked.

"No, Adam, your half brother."

xxxxxxxx

Dean was searching the empty bottles of liquor, trying to get enough together for at least a partial glass worth.

"No, just no. Dad wouldn't have."

"Dean." His brother followed behind him, deftly avoiding an empty whiskey bottle when the elder Winchester threw it over his shoulder. "Dad was a man and sometimes things happen."

Dean turned to look at his brother. "Then why didn't he ever tell us about him?"

"Your half brother, Adam Milligan will turn eighteen in September. Your father didn't know of his existence until the boy was twelve. Originally, you didn't find out about him until after he and his mother were attacked and eaten by ghouls."

Cas' recitation of the facts halted any further movement from the two brothers. They turned to him, twin expressions of horror on their faces that became more pronounced as Cas continued.

"I have checked on them and they are fine for the moment, however there is an added problem. As Adam is of John Winchester's bloodline, it is possible that he could also be used as the righteous man."

"So someone might try to get him into Hell to break the first seal? Dean asked.

Castiel was just starting to nod when Gabriel spoke up.

"Ah, about that."

Dean shut his eyes, the mental pain was just that bad. "You're going to do that a lot, aren't you?"

The archangel shrugged. "What can I say, I hear things. And what I've heard, is that while they know you died, they never did catch a clue about who was holding your contract. So they don't know you've come back. At least, not yet."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that both Heaven and Hell are looking for the righteous man in all the wrong places and they've got no idea what the right ones are."

xxxxxxxx

"Bela darling, how are things?"

Bela Talbot jerked on the rack, feeling the hooks dig in a little deeper. She clenched her teeth, refusing to whimper and distracted herself by mentally congratulating herself on correctly guessing that something was up. They'd only been through a half day of torture before she'd been pulled back together and that had never happened before.

"Crowley, what do you want?"

"Some information."

She snorted at him. "Sit on it and spin." She closed her eyes and settled back, waiting for the pain to start again.

"Now really darling, is that anyway to talk to the man who's going to get you out of here?"

xxxxxxxx

"That's why you don't want me to break the bond thing with Cas." Dean said, glaring at Loki.

"Like I said, it'll make it more difficult for the angels to dick with you. Think about it. Take your experiences dealing with me and multiply it by the Host of Heaven."

"We are not all that bad Loki."

Gabriel smirked at his brother. "No, the rank and file, the choirs from the third sphere, most of them would do anything to fight against Lucifer and Hell. It's the first sphere you have to worry about." He tilted his head, looking at his brother. "You, you're a Powers now, aren't you?"

Cas nodded. "I rose to that level when Father brought me back a second time. I was a simple angel before that."

"Power?" Dean asked.

Sam answered. "Powers or Authorities. They're warriors and were created to be completely loyal to God."

"And he made you an archangel on top of that." Gabriel shook his head. "I'm not sure if he was rewarding you or…"

"Or giving me enough rope to hang myself." His brother continued.

Gabe nodded.

"I have wondered myself. Even now, I am uncertain." Cas added. He shook his head, dismissing the question for the moment.

"Dean, as I said, if you wish to break the bond…"

"Leave it."

Cas looked at him, surprised. Dean shrugged. "For now anyway. With everything that's going on, I think it's the least of our worries." Maybe it didn't make much sense, allowing himself to remain tied to this being, but somehow, listening to Cas' problems with his Father, well, let's just say, he could relate.

"Great." Gabriel said, clapping his hands and rubbing them together. "Just remember to dedicate your hunts to him, or rather, Kaseva. He's gonna need all the power he can get."

And of course, that was exactly the moment Loki chose to disappear.

Briefly, Cas considered asking the Winchesters if it was equally annoying when he went and disappeared. However, since he suspected that he already knew the answer, he didn't bother.

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Crowley sat at the desk in the office he kept in Hell and looked across at Bela, who was sitting in a chair on the other side of the desk. By his calculations, she'd been in Hell a little over twelve years now. She was still very much herself, something that surprised him a little. Given all her schemes, he thought she'd have folded by now. After all, the sooner you could forget your life, the sooner you could join in on the killing and destroying, the less you yourself were hurt.

Initially, he'd planned to pump her for information before tossing her back into the Pit, but now… He was certain that that would be a waste. Even as a human soul, she was more devious, conniving and resourceful than half of his staff put together. Certainly, it would be better if she were already a demon. However, in the Pit or working for him, eventually the problem would sort itself out.

xxxxxxxx

Bela crossed her legs and leaned back into the chair, the sheer comfort of it causing her brain to spark and jump in a way that let her know that going back to the rack after this small reprieve would probably end her. Still, she sat there quietly. She would look for the angle in anything given her, but she already knew that begging and pleading only got you more pain in the end.

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"Cards on the table, dear." Crowley started.

"We're playing Go Fish then, are we?" Bela countered.

Crowley laughed quietly. "Yes, something like that. You see, I need to know where I might be able to find Sam Winchester. Of course, I would also like to know where Dean Winchester's soul got too, but I don't expect miracles."

Bela raised her eyebrows. "That's a tall order. So if I help with it, what do I get?"

"Well, you could perhaps, stay off the rack for the next decade."

Bela laughed, although the sound carried no joy in it. "Somehow, I think that would be worse."

"Fine, get me some answers and you can come work for me. Stay useful and you stay off the rack. Keep your mouth closed, and I'll make sure to single you out to Alistair myself."

Bela swallowed the sudden sour taste in her mouth. She had spent all of one day under Hell's master torturer since she been here and the experience was permanently etched into her memory.

She clenched her fists shut in an attempt to stop them from shaking. "Ask."

"Sam Winchester."

She glared at him. "Last I saw him, he was standing by his brother, whole and hearty, even though I'd shot him, twice."

"You shot him?"

She nodded. "Yes. Except that, by way of Dean's contract, if Sam died anytime during Dean's last year he'd just be brought back. So sending me off to kill him was somewhat useless."

Crowley frowned. That was an unusual article for a crossroads deal, but not unheard of. "Did he simply revive, or did the demon show up to do it?"

Bela took a deep breath, remembering the form she'd seen beneath the body he'd been wearing. She still doubted that he was a demon, even if she hadn't figured out what he was.

"Bela?"

"He showed up. He stayed to help them question me. He even pulled up my contract for them." She held onto her suspicions, she might be able to parlay them into something if she didn't just go blurting them out.

Crowley grimaced. Only himself, Lilith and maybe Alistair should have been able to access Bela's contract.

Bela decided to throw him something extra. "He knew who you were and it didn't sound as if he liked you."

Sadly, that did not narrow it down for the king of the crossroads. If there was anything he had in abundance, it was enemies.

"Oh yeah, he also said that Lilith didn't really want Sam dead. Apparently she had some kind of plan to use his powers for herself."

Crowley felt a small buzz of fear work its way up his spine. That was more than what a few of Lilith's most trusted people had known. That he himself knew was simply an example of his skill at espionage.

"Any place you can think of that Sam Winchester might be now?"

She shook her head. "No… However, if I were looking, I'd start with Bobby Singer. If there's anyone he'd keep in contact with, it's him."

He nodded. "Then I'll have to see about introducing myself to him."

He wondered what deal he could talk him into.

Further Disclaimer: Stargate: SG1 and its spin-offs are owned by MGM and probably several other people and corporations. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Author's note: Wasn't actually expecting Bela to come back, but she insisted.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. Stargate SG1 (for what little there is in here) is the property of MGM and probably several other people and corporations. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 13

The man looked blearily around the darkened bedroom and wondered why he was awake. His wife slept quietly beside him and no noise came from his daughter's room, but there was something...

A rustle of cloth was the only warning he had as a hand was clasped over his mouth. Before he could move against the intruder, a quiet yet rough voice spoke in his ear.

"I would rather not wake your wife and daughter. Do you understand?"

He nodded, carefully.

"Good, get up and head downstairs, I will be one step behind you."

The hand came away from his mouth and something that he quickly identified as his robe was thrown across his lap. Picking it up, he slid out of bed and moved quietly to the door. He didn't bother trying to put the robe on until they were both standing in the hallway.

"What do you want?" He asked, as he fumbled to tie the robe shut.

"Downstairs, we'll talk then."

All the way down the stairs, the man considered and discarded a number of things to say. The first was that the intruder just take whatever it was he wanted and leave, but while the man didn't know what was going on, he suspected that it wasn't a simple matter of robbery.

The second was that whatever this was, it was a mistake. He was not the kind of guy whose lifestyle would lead to being rousted out of bed by mysterious strangers in the middle of the night.

They got to the living room, the man behind him flipping on the lights, when he came up with the one thing that he did use.

"Who are you?"

The intruder brushed past him before he could see his face, going to the window and closing the curtains. The man stared at the other man's back for a moment. An even more absurd question hit him. So absurd that he couldn't help but voice it.

"Why are you wearing my trench coat?"

The man at the window turned and Jimmy Novak backed away, his eyes wide.

In a voice that was lighter than the one he had used earlier, the other man answered.

"Because I'm you, you idiot."

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"Sit." Trench coat wearing Jimmy said, pointing at the couch. "I don't have much time."

Legs shaking, robe wearing Jimmy made his way over to the sofa and more or less fell into it as his muscles gave way.

"Who, how… what?"

"Just listen."

Wrapping the robe around him a little tighter, his arms ending up hugging his body, Jimmy nodded.

"In the next few months, there is a possibility that you will be visited by an angel."

Jimmy's mouth dropped open. Briefly, he wondered if someone had tampered with their evening meal, because the only way any of this made sense was if drugs were involved.

"His name is Castiel." Trench coat wearing Jimmy started to pace. "Eventually, he will ask you to allow him to use your body here on Earth." He stopped and looked at his other self. "If this does happen, you need to say no and you need to tell Claire to say no as well."

"Claire… why?" The Jimmy on the couch felt his mind steady with the mention of a possible threat to his daughter. "Why would he want my child?"

"Because, she's of the same bloodline and would be capable of housing an angel. They need human bodies, vessels, to be able to work here on Earth."

"How… how do you know this?"

Trench coat wearing Jimmy took a deep breath. "Because, I'm the you that said yes." He staggered slightly. "Damn."

"What?"

"He can only suppress himself for a short time."

"Who?"

"Castiel." Jimmy's eyes squeezed shut in pain. "Ah."

Jimmy started to get to his feet, when the other him opened his eyes, pinning Jimmy to the sofa with a look.

"I know that you're feeling like there is a greater purpose in your life and that you're not fulfilling it, but please, trust me when I say, your family, this life, it is that purpose. If you give it up… You'll only learn what a fool you've been after it's too late to do anything about it."

Jimmy watched as the him in a trench coat dropped to one knee and grabbed onto the coffee table to stay balanced.

"Um, me? Jimmy?"

His body, other body, stood up. The move was smooth and far too precise to be human.

"No, I'm sorry."

The voice was now the gravely rasp he had heard in the dark. Jimmy swallowed the sudden lump in his throat.

"Castiel?"

The angel nodded. "Yes."

Jimmy shook his head. "I don't understand."

"I… We, are attempting to alter the events of a disaster, through time travel."

"Which is why there are two of me… sort of."

Cas nodded. "Yes. Given that the changes we have already made may make taking a vessel unnecessary this time around, I have allowed Jimmy to pass on this warning to you. Even if the me of this time does come to you, I believe it would be best if you refused him."

"Wouldn't that wipe out the me/you that came from the future?" Given the pure mind blowingness of that sentence, Jimmy had to consider the possibility that he was dreaming.

"No, you're not dreaming." Cas told him, deftly reading the man's surface thoughts. "And time travel is more complicated than that." He paused for a moment. "It also does not involve Deloreans."

Jimmy blinked. "Ah, okay."

"I hope that this time you get to spend your life with your family and that it will be a long and joyous one."

"Thank…" Jimmy's stared in wonder as the being he had been talking with was suddenly gone, the sound of wings the only thing to mark his passing.

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Dean sat on the small dock and looked out over the lake as it shimmered in the moonlight. Cas had spent much of the day extending the protections on the cabin to the area around it. He suspected that the angel had done it to give him and Sam the chance to come to terms with everything they had learned as well as make some plans for the future. He also suspected that Cas preferred to be somewhere else when those plans sounded more like arguing than constructive plotting.

Still, he couldn't complain about the result. It was nice to be able to sit out here and not feel the air scrape at his last nerve.

"Hello Dean."

The hunter jumped slightly as the angel appeared beside him. He gave his chest a couple of thumps and shook his head before answering. "Cas. Whatcha been up too?"

Castiel tilted his head slightly in thought. "I had to see a man about a Delorean."

Dean's expression was somewhat disbelieving, but he let the answer pass, mostly. "Well, I hope you didn't buy it. They're cool cars in theory, but they don't live up to the hype in practice."

"No, I did not buy it. I didn't see the point."

Dean laughed. "Yeah, it's not something you guys probably need." He looked out at the water. "Hey, just out of curiosity. Did you actually buy this place?"

Cas glanced back at the cabin and then out at the lake. "Yes. I have other such places in different areas of the world, although in those I am… I believe the term is…squatting? "

Dean nodded.

"Due to the strange effect in this area, I thought to make a more permanent base here. The price was very affordable, although that was probably because the cabin was one more broken window away from condemnable."

"Dean frowned. "Where did you get the money?"

"I found it."

In the still air of the night, the creak of a wooden board being stepped on carried across the water. The angel and the hunter looked to the other side of the lake. In the moonlight, they could make out the form of a man standing on a small dock. By his height and stance, Dean suspected that it was Cas' neighbour, Jack.

The man waved at them and Dean stood and returned the gesture.

"We should head inside." Cas said from behind him.

Dean nodded and with one more wave, he turned and walked back to the cabin with the angel. When they got to the door, he briefly glanced back towards the lake.

"You might want to keep an eye on your neighbour when you're here. Dean said before going in.

Cas nodded, but didn't say anything. He had already come to that conclusion himself.

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Zachariah felt something strange scratching at the edges of his concentration. It took him a while to identify it as anxiety, mixed with equal amounts of frustration and anger.

"It is possible to re-forge the last seal, however it will need to be tied to something or someone as strong as Lilith was or it won't take." One of his underlings reported. At the moment, Zachariah couldn't remember the other angel's name and to be honest, probably wouldn't bother to find out. "Our associates report that the first seal is still intact. Unfortunately, they still don't know just where in Hell the righteous man's soul ended up. Apparently his deal didn't go through normal channels."

"So they don't even know if he's down there?"

The angel shrugged. "Where else could he be? He sold his soul and hellhounds were involved in the collection. He's there and he will be found. To that end, the siege is… mostly going as planned. The focus is still on storming the Pit. As far as the rank and file know, that's where the righteous man is."

"Good. What about the other matter?"

"Ah, the team has made a search for the Winchester's parents as well as Samuel Winchester's girlfriend. Our associates report that none of them are currently in Hell… and we have not been able to locate them in Heaven."

Zachariah glared at him. "They've got to be somewhere."

"Yes, but we believe that they may be in protective lockdown. Possibly initiated by either Joshua, or Michael."

Zach grimaced. "Ah, alright then. Put that aside for now." Using one of them to influence Sam to train up his powers had been a long shot anyway. They'd just have to let their associates handle that one.

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"So, we thought we'd go check on this Adam kid." Dean shrugged. "At the very least we should let him and his mom know that Dad is dead."

Morning sunlight was once again filtering its way into the cabin. Dean and Sam sat at the kitchen island, downing cereal, toast, orange juice and coffee. Cas sat there with them, but didn't bother to eat.

"It sounds like a good plan." Cas hadn't originally met the young man until after the other angels had brought him back. As he recalled, the Winchesters hadn't found out about him until shortly after they had met …

"Chuck." The angel said, his eyes wide.

"Excuse me?" Dean said, not sure he'd heard correctly.

"Heaven doesn't know where your soul ended up, but they should. All they would have to do is check with Chuck."

"Okay… are you sure you're feeling alright?"

"No, I don't believe I am." He looked at both of the brothers. "Stay here, I have to track something down."

Before they could blink, he was gone.

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Three states and seven bookstores later, Cas returned. He dropped the bags of books he was carrying on the leather ottoman in the main room. Opening one of the bags, he tossed each of the brothers a paperback book.

"Adding to your library, Cas?" Dean frowned at the cover. Two buff men sat on the hood of a car, looking up at the title of the book, which was superimposed over a night's sky. "Supernatural?"

"Eventually they will be known as the Winchester Gospels."

Dean nearly dropped the book. "What?"

Cas continued, ignoring Dean's question. "The writer, Chuck Shurley, he is a prophet of the Lord."

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me."

Cas just looked at him.

"Hey, after all that pagan god stuff, you're more than capable of running a practical joke."

Cas shook his head. "I have never understood what is so practical about them. Still, that is not important." He held up one of the books. "These books follow your lives from the time Sam and you started hunting together again, up until the demon siege in Monument.

According to the note at the end of that book, the one involving Lilith and…hellhounds, doesn't come out until July. The problem is… I looked them over on the way back and the volumes that cover the last year are still about what originally happened and not what has happened."

Sam flipped the book he was holding over so he could read the back of it. "The Mystery Spot. Sam and Dean are trapped in a small town were everyday is Tuesday and every day Dean dies. Only Sam is the only one who knows it." Looking like he'd been gut punched, the younger Winchester turned to the first page and started reading.

Dean was quietly reading the back of his own book and not looking much happier with it than Sam had. "So, what are we supposed to do about this? Go scare the guy into not writing anymore?

"No. That would be a bad idea. As a prophet, he is protected by an archangel. If any of us went to see him, they would no doubt learn what had happened in short order. We need to find out why Chuck is still seeing the original path and what he knows of the future, but without actually going ourselves."

It only took a moment of thought for all three of them.

"Bobby."

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Carver Edlund aka Chuck Shurley, agreed to meet him at a coffee shop not far from the writer's home. The author was a nervous man and Bobby got the feeling that he'd never been interviewed all that much.

"Um, Mr. Perry?"

Bobby stood up from the table he was at and held out his hand. "Call me Robert." He said as they shook. "You must be Carver Edlund."

Chuck nodded and both men took seats.

"First off, thank you for meeting with me."

Chuck shook his head. "The pleasure's all mine. It's not everyday that a magazine like Locus asks me for an interview."

A waitress stopped at the table and they each ordered a coffee. They waited until they arrived at their table before beginning the interview.

"So, you probably get this one a lot." Bobby started. "But, where did you get the idea for your series, Supernatural?"

"Well, to be honest… it kinda just came to me. One day I was just sitting there, not doing much when blam, I get hit with one of the worst migraines I've ever had. Once I shook it off, the idea for the first book was just there. The characters, the plot, the settings. It came close to writing itself. It got a little harder after that, sometimes because I've had so many ideas to use, but not all of them really work in novel form." Chuck laughed lightly. "Sometimes, I've thought the whole thing would really have worked better as a TV series, if, you know, I could actually have gotten anyone to buy it."

Bobby managed to not to shudder at the idea of the boy's lives broadcast for all to see. He continued the interview, going through the standard list of questions that most articles seem to follow, before circling back to what they really needed to know.

"So, I know things change during rewrites, but have you ever written something so opposite to the original version that it was almost a different story."

Chuck laughed. "Actually, yes. In fact, there are several parts of the series that have a second set of scenes that I've come to call the Alternate Reality version. I started writing them when I found a character was being very annoying. Suddenly I just dropped this super powered…guy into it and let him zap her." He shrugged. "It was therapeutic. So now, I have a bunch of scenes involving this guy, but I can't really use them because he has no background. Although, I'm thinking I might modify him and use him in the next book. I'll just have to see how that goes."

"Uh, huh. I'd be curious to see some of those scenes. Maybe talk about them in the article. You know, about how many different paths can be taken to writing about the same thing."

"Well. Ah, what the hell. Give me your e-mail address, I'll send you a few. Only, if you're going to quote from them, I'd prefer it if you cleared it with me first."

"No problem. I know the next book is coming out in July, but what's to happen in the one after that?"

Chuck signalled the waitress for another cup while he seemed to mull the question over. "To be honest, I'm not really sure. Right now, all I know is that Dean is somewhere not nice. Well, that or he's on vacation in Colorado, but I don't think that version would fly with my publisher."

Bobby wrapped up the interview after that, handing Chuck a fake business card with a temporarily real e-mail address. Chuck stayed to finish his second cup of coffee. If Bobby had looked behind him as he left, he would have seen the strangest smile on the author's face.

It was sad, but hopeful, and more than a little knowing.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Author's note: As some of you might have guessed, I do subscribe to the Chuck as God theory. However, I also believe that a lot of the time He simply chooses to be Chuck. Therefore, He acts, reacts and thinks like Chuck a lot of the time, with only the occasional peek behind the curtain to see some small part of the rest of Him.

So sometimes, what Chuck does is just what Chuck does and wasn't really part of a bigger plan at the time. Of course, there are also times where He chooses not to get involved.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 14

Bobby took a taxi from the coffee shop to a randomly chosen address on the other side of town. He walked another two blocks from where the taxi dropped him off. Castiel collected him at that point and moved him from there, to the cabin in Colorado, before the hunter could even finish nodding at him.

Once he'd recovered his balance, he dropped his notes onto the dining table and sat down. The rest of the group joined him.

"Well?" Dean asked.

"Well, from the sound of it, he's seeing both versions. He said he'd e-mail me a few of the alternate scenes. So I guess we'll have to wait for them to know for sure."

Cas frowned. "He has written the scenes, but not included them in the books?"

"Yeah, he said that he came up with this super powered 'guy', when he wanted to whack a character that was annoying him. Assuming you're the guy, then he knew what you were doing, but he said he didn't have any background on you."

"Perhaps he isn't able to see far enough ahead to know who I am."

Bobby shrugged.

"That's a good thing, isn't it?" Sam asked, carefully.

"I… I am not certain, but I think it may be." Cas answered back.

"Anyway, keep an eye on this email address." Bobby flipped through his notes until he found it and passed them over to Sam, who nodded. He went into the service and pulled the account up.

"Oh… He's already sent them."

"That was fast. Didn't think he'd be that on the ball."

Sam opened the attachments. "Okay, looks like Dean's crossroads deal is the first one."

"Ah, we don't really need to look at that one, do we?" Dean asked hopefully.

His brother frowned at him. "Of course we do." He turned back to the screen and started reading. "If this is the first time Cas showed up in his writing…Yep, there he is. Fried the crossroads demon, wearing a trench coat and …oh. Ah, right." He looked over at his brother, who had his face buried in his hands.

"What?" Bobby asked, looking from one to the other of them.

"It was a crossroads deal." Came the muffled answer from Dean.

Bobby frowned, and then suddenly got it. "Oh."

Sam, who was still reading, looked at the screen a little closer before turning to Cas. "Who's the pizza man?"

"We're not supposed to talk about it." Cas replied.

"Thank God." Dean said as he finally stopped hiding behind his hands. Cas raised an eyebrow at the expression, but didn't say anything.

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Besides the crossroad deal, Chuck had sent them two more scenes. One of them was when Cas came in to help them against Loki at the Mystery Spot, the other was when he killed Ruby in Monument. The Winchester's confirmed that the details of the first were correct. Castiel did the same for the second.

Dean watched somewhat amused as Cas started to pace. "So, Heaven doesn't know that anything has changed?"

Cas shook his head. "They didn't know. They must realise by now that things are not as prophesised. Eventually, they will go through all of Chuck's files."

"Hmm. Does the archangel watch his place, or just him?"

Cas stopped moving, raised an eyebrow at the question and began to worry as he watched Dean smile.

"It would not stop his future writing. And it will alert Heaven that 'something' is up."

"Yeah, but they won't know what and this way, they'll never know what happened, beyond what's in the books. At the very least, it will slow them down."

Sam shook his head. "No, won't work. He wrote this stuff, all they'd have to do is take it out of his mind or, hell, just ask him about it."

Cas thought for a moment, and then shook his head. "No, interfering with a prophet's mind in such a way is forbidden, in case it should damage his connection to Heaven. In addition, Chuck is the author, but he isn't a fan. He forgets things, even when he uses them in the books and given that he never used the scenes we care about… his memory of them will be imperfect. Therefore, it might work, at least for a while. I would feel safer if they don't find out the full truth of things until we are a little closer to the date Dean originally returned from Hell. It gives us a better chance to avoid the possibility that time or a third party will try to reshape the current reality back into the old one." He looked from one brother to the other. "Besides, I really would prefer that no one end up in Hell this time.

To that, the boys could do little more than nod in agreement.

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Summer, as it turned out, was the season for Science Fiction and Fantasy conventions. An internet search showed that Carver Edlund had an appearance at a local one that weekend. This gave them a window of several hours, and they didn't expect to need that much time. Since Cas admitted that he was uncomfortable with destroying Chuck's work, they planned to take his computer, backups and any paper files they found. Cas would store them at the cabin safe house, as it was his most secure one.

They decided against having Cas mojo them inside. Better to do it the hard way than use powers that might alert the wrong beings. He did get them to the town, after which the Winchesters acquired some transportation for the heist. They picked up some supplies. Duffle bags and sport's bags to haul stuff out in and other assorted items and snacks.

They watched from a van parked several houses down from Chucks as the man was dragged out of his house by his publisher and shoved into a car. They gave it another 20 minutes before driving around to the back.

Chuck's backdoor lock was an easy pop.

Sam went for the computer, Dean started looking for paper files and Cas searched the house for computer discs, USB drives, and anything else that might hold Chuck's work.

As it turned out, there were a ridiculous number of post-it notes involved.

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Carver Edlund sat at his author's booth on the dealer's floor at the convention. His publisher was fielding a question, as he was busy rubbing his forehead and trying not to moan.

Sera leaned over and whispered in his ear, causing him to jump. "Chuck. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah. It's just a headache." He squinted at his surroundings and groaned again as his eyes slammed shut. "A really bad one…oh." With a hand clamped over his mouth the author ran for the nearest bathroom.

When he came back a few minutes later, he looked a little better.

"Do you want me to get you out of here?" His publisher asked him.

He shook his head. "No, it's alright. I think the worst of it is over." He gave a tight little smile to a convention goer who had wandered over to check out the books.

"Did you get any new ideas for the next book?" Sera asked hopefully. She was one of a few people that knew that Chuck sometimes got his best ideas during migraine attacks.

He started to shake his head, and then thought better of it. "No, it was really random. Saw this scene with Sam and Dean and this character I created, but haven't used yet. The three of them broke into my house to steal my books so… somebody, not sure who, wouldn't know that Dean had skipped Hell and was vacationing in Colorado."

Sera laughed. "Yeah, that really is random."

A vibration ran through the room and for a moment, everything seemed too loud and too bright. It ended almost as soon as it started, leaving a few dealers to pick up fallen wares and place them back on their tables.

Chuck shook his head. "Stupid tremors. If I'd wanted earthquakes, I could have moved to California."

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Since he'd had to go through Chuck's e-mail accounts and copy all of the backups the author had sent himself and then delete them, Sam was still stuffing the computer into a duffle bag when the house started to shake. A high-pitched buzz cut through his ears. To Sam and Dean it was painful. To Cas, it was a declaration of intent.

"Run!"

"What?" Dean yelled, trying to be heard over the noise.

"It's the archangel." Cas hesitated a moment. It was Raphael and his power was already tightening around the house. He couldn't get all three of them out, but… He lurched forward, touching a hand to each of the brother's shoulders and sent them and the bags they were holding to the closest safe house he had, which was in Pennsylvania.

The shaking got worse and the house was bathed in a bright light. Sighing, Castiel squared his shoulders and waited.

"Well, this is familiar. It seems time intends to have me as her bitch."

And unlike last time, he rather doubted that Father would be bringing him back again.

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"Crap." Dean said as he looked around at the nice suburban family home that they seemed to have landed in. A quick look out the 'front door' of the house found them in a tunnel, about a dozen yards from the entrance of what appeared to be an abandoned mine. They eased back into the house and started looking around.

"Ah, here." Sam held up a file folder that had been sitting on the table in the dining room. "In case of Emergency."

Dean shook his head. "Guy is way too anal."

"Would you rather not know where we are?" Sam asked him.

"Just read it."

"Okay, we're in Pennsylvania. It is five miles to the nearest help. If we're stranded here without Cas, then there's transportation in the garage part of the house and a wallet in the desk in the study with enough money in it to get us the rest of the way to wherever we need to be."

"Yeah, except we need to be in Ohio, now."

"Yeah." Sam closed the file and dropped it back onto the table. "So, we wait?"

Dean sighed. "Yeah, we wait, and hope Cas makes it out of there in one piece."

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Castiel felt power slam into him. His first two layers of wards shattered from the impact and the blow threw him across the room and into a wall. Shaking plaster dust out of his hair, Cas stood and glared at the figure that had materialized in Chuck's living room.

Raphael was in a vessel, although it wasn't either of the ones Cas had seen before. The young man was also a poor choice. While Raphael's power generally left a vessel brain dead, they were usually still physically whole. This one was going to burn out completely in a matter of hours.

"The Winchesters, they were here, where did you send them?"

Cas shook his head.

"You will answer me." The archangel's glare seemed to push against him and Cas stiffened in place to fight off the desire to step back from him.

Raphael's glare deepened. "You're…" The archangel's expression changed a minuscule amount, but still, Cas was able to read the shock on his face. "You're one of us and you are hiding them. Not only that, but you moved against a prophet of the Lord."

Now Cas shifted back, surprised. Even with part of the wards broken, he hadn't expected to be found out. If it had been Michael, yes. However, Raphael was still one rung lower in power than the first Archangel was. Castiel looked down at himself and started to curse silently in his head. The third and fourth wards were cracked. All he really had left were the last two, and those were protecting the part of him that he considered his core.

At least that would stop Raphael from knowing exactly who he was. And for the sake of the him from this time, he hoped it stayed that way.

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Raphael called his blade to his hand. He had found the anomaly, the fly that had attempted to poison the ointment. The reason why nothing was going to plan. By the time he finished with him, this angel would tell him everything and be begging for the archangel to put an end to him.

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Cas called a weapon to him, going by instinct rather than wasting time trying to choose one of the several he had tied to him. To be honest, he expected to find himself holding his usual blade.

At the same time that he felt his hand wrap around the weapon's handle, Raphael flew at him, his speed still much faster than Castile's was. Reacting as quickly as he could, Cas thrust his weapon forward, fully expecting the archangel to parry the move.

The shock of Raphael's body impaling itself on the head of the weapon travelled through Cas' entire body. Equal expressions of surprise crossed both angels' faces. Raphael looked down at the spear that was now buried in his chest.

"How…could you possibly possess…the spear?"

White light poured out of Raphael's eyes, mouth and the wound in his chest as his Grace came undone. Castiel pulled the spear, one of Heaven's weapons, out of the archangel and covered his eyes as Raphael's passing became too much for even him to witness.

With a roar of sound and light, the world broke up around him, picked him up and threw him.

He didn't hold out much hope for his landing.

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It had been about ten minutes since they'd ended up at the safe house. This was about eight minutes too long. Dean was ready to say screw it and go checkout the transportation in the garage so they could start working their way back to Ohio and Chuck's place.

There was a thud from the kitchen and the brother's raced into the room, to see Cas on his knees, barley holding himself upright as he leaned against a spear with a bloody tip.

"Cas." Dean and Sam each picked a side and helped the angel to his feet. Cas allowed it, but shrugged them off once he was standing. He leaned the spear up against the kitchen cabinets and walked over to the sink, where he discovered that an angel with his powers intact could indeed throw up.

As Jimmy's stomach was empty, all that came up was bile, which was highly unpleasant. He turned on the cold water, rinsed his mouth out, and then splashed some of it onto his face.

"Cas, what happened?"

The angel stared at the running water for a moment before shutting the faucet off. "The archangel, Raphael… is dead."

"Oh… You?"

"Yes."

Dean nodded. "Okay… Um, I guess we should go back to the prophet's place and get the rest of the stuff and deal with the body before he gets back?"

Cas shook his head. "There is no need. When Raphael died, he took the house with him. I believe it will appear to have been a natural gas leak."

Cas picked up the spear and looked at it. A lot of the power from Heaven's weapons was usually taken up with keeping his Wards in place. When the two outer layers had been broken, the spear's power was suddenly not needed. If that hadn't happened…

Choosing not to think about it, he cleaned the spearhead with a wave of his hand. A twist of will later and he took the weapon's power back into himself, the physical part of it vanishing as he did. He reached out and grabbed on to Sam and Dean. The three of them appeared suddenly in the great room area of the cabin in Colorado. The stuff from Chuck's place that had made it to Pennsylvania came with them, landing on the couch and the rather annoyed Bobby who was sitting on it.

He started to complain about it, but stopped abruptly as he realized something was wrong.

"What happened?"

Cas turned and started to walk away. "I need to be alone, don't follow." The brothers started to anyway, but Bobby stood, latched onto their shoulders and shook his head. "Whatever it is, let him work through it for a bit. And fill me in while he does."

Both brother's nodded and started to tell the older hunter just how everything had gone wrong.

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Cas was sitting on the dock when he when he felt one very pissed off presence appear behind him.

"Hello Gabriel."

"Why?"

Cas closed his eyes and bowed his head. He didn't resist when his brother hauled him to his feet by his trench coat.

"Give me one good reason why I don't kill you here and now?"

Cas shook his head.

Gabriel gave Cas a shake and then let him go, pacing off for about ten steps before turning to look at him. Castiel brought his eyes up to look into the archangel's and winced. At best, Gabriel was about to stand opposed to Cas and the Winchesters for the death of his brother. At worse, he would start that opposition by smiting Cas where he stood.

Yes, time really was trying to make him her bitch.

Gabriel raised his hand, his fingers meeting as he prepared to snap them. Cas didn't even try to move. He had killed one brother today and while it was something he had regrettably become use to, he had no wish to add Gabriel's death to his list of sins.

Besides, you couldn't really dodge a smiting.

The older archangel froze, looking his brother over. He might be very angry with the younger angel, but he didn't think he was actually planning to kill him. However, given Cas' current shielding, that might very well happen if he followed through on snapping his fingers. "What happened to your wards?"

Cas glanced down at himself briefly. "Raphael."

Gabriel's arm lowered a little. "Was that one hit, or several?"

"Just one, when he first appeared."

Gabriel's arm fell to his side. "He pretty much tried to smite you."

Cas nodded. "Gabriel, you asked why?"

The archangel gave him one sharp nod.

"We discovered that the prophet, Chuck, has been seeing both what originally happened and what has happened now. As the original story is what is making it into the gospels, we sought to muddy the water's by making off with Chuck's files while he was away.

"Only things screwed up because Raph somehow found out you were there."

"Yes." Cas closed his eyes for a moment. He was about to tell the honest truth, and there was a very good chance it would get him killed. "Gabriel, there is something you have to understand. In my time, Raphael and I stood on opposite sides of the conflict. We spent three years trying to kill each other… In fact, he succeeded once, but Father brought me back."

Gabriel managed to avoid going speechless this time, but it was a near thing. "You've been smote?"

Cas nodded. "Twice actually. Lucifer got me the second time."

"And Dad...?"

"Yes, he brought me back again. I wouldn't worry though. I believe I have used up all such favours."

Gabriel paced a few steps one way and then back. "If you've been trying to kill Raphael for so long, why are you so freaked out about having pulled it off?"

"I am not freaked…"

"Castiel." Gabriel said, glaring at him.

Cas slumped. "So much of what I did. So many of the wrong choices I made were to gain the power I would need to oppose Raphael and in the end I killed him and it was almost by accident." He decided not to mention the whole, future vision smiting of Raphael. In some ways, it had been worse than killing him now had been. With all that power, Raphael had been little more than an annoying insect to swat. Going nuclear had been overkill at a ridiculous level.

Gabriel started to pace again. The heart in Castiel's vessel lurched in his chest as he saw the Winchesters walking towards them, their stride somewhat cautious. His heart gave another lurch as Gabriel noticed them.

The archangel turned and looked at Castiel. "I'm going to go before I do something regrettable, like turn Colorado into a smouldering hole on the map." His eyes narrowed. "Once I've calmed down I'll be back. Depending on how I feel about things, I may kill you."

Cas didn't let out the breath he was holding until he was gone.

Author's note: Author may consider hiding, at least until the next chapter comes out.


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 15

"Cas, is everything alright?" Sam asked the angel as he and his brother walked up to him.

Still staring at the spot where Gabriel had been standing, Cas shook his head, no. "Ga… Loki and Raphael use to be close. He is very angry at the moment." He looked up at them. "I think it would be best if the two of you and Bobby weren't here when he comes back. This is something we need to deal with ourselves."

He noticed that Dean didn't look too comfortable with the suggestion. "Are you sure you'll be alright?"

"I'll be fine."

"Cas." The tone of Dean's voice told him that he didn't really believe him.

"Honestly."

Dean gave him another look, and then sighed. "Alright. Sam and I'll use the time to go and see Adam."

Cas nodded. "I hope the three of you will get along. Give him and his mother each one of these." He passed him two small bags that were identical to the ones he had given them after the demon siege. "It should hide them from both angels and demons."

"Thanks." Dean said as he took them. "So, you're just going to wait around here for Loki to come back?"

"Yes." Cas shrugged. "If I have the time I'll make some repairs to my personal wards. They were damaged in the fight with Raphael." He started walking towards the cabin and Sam and Dean fell in beside him. "I'll give you my cell phone number, so you can get hold of me if there are any problems."

Dean had to smile at that. "An Angel of the Lord, with a phone?"

"You could always just pray to me, I will hear you. However, you were never very good at it."

Sam gave a snort of laughter and easily dodged his brother's attempt to punch him in the shoulder.

"I'm sure it's just something I needed to practice."

Cas nodded. "Yes."

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Chuck and Sera stared in open mouth fascination at the smoking hole that used to be a house. Chuck's house. The homes on either side of Chuck's place were still standing, amazingly enough, but they had taken smoke and structural damage and were currently unliveable. The rest of the neighbourhood wasn't much better. Due to the force of the explosion, broken windows had become an area wide problem, and a good half of the houses on the street were covered in soot and ash.

Fire trucks were still stationed in front of Chuck's place and when they'd learned who he was, both the fire marshal and the police started questioning him. Sera held onto his hand the entire time, offering him her silent support. Once the first bout of official rigmarole was over, Sera took Chuck home with her. When they got there, she turned to him and hugged him.

"Sera?"

She pulled back. "I'm sorry. I just keep thinking about what would have happened to you today if I hadn't dragged you off to the convention."

Chuck swallowed and gave one of her shoulders a squeeze. "Yeah. Been trying not to think about it my self."

Really, really trying not to.

Sera turned away and for one brief moment, Chuck's expression became the perfect illustration of sadness. If Sera or anyone else had looked at him in that instant, they would have known such profound grief as never to be happy again.

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Gabriel plugged himself into Angel Radio. The last time he had checked in, the talk had all been about how oddly the siege of Hell was going. Apparently, instead of fighting, the majority of the demons in Hell were running away from the conflict. This lead the Host to believe that they would easily find the righteous man, but every time they neared the Pit, reality would shift and the army would find itself on the other side of Hell. Gabe didn't know who was pulling that off, but he admired their work.

Now, of course, the talk was all about Raphael's death and the attempt against the prophet. Gabriel had to admit, if Cas and the Winchesters had managed the heist without killing Raphael, he would have applauded the joke. Now though…

He hadn't been in contact with his brothers for a very long time. Over the years, the things that had come down through the grapevine about them had made him happier and happier that he had gotten out. However, that didn't mean he wanted to see them hurt. No matter how much he might want all of everything to be over, he still never really wanted it to come to the point where any of his brothers would be forced to kill the other. Sadly, given Castiel's description of the future, a lot of that was what was going to be happening.

As he listened to the Host talk about Raphael, he realized that the words he would have once used to described the Healer, like caring and serene, were missing. Some of the words that used changed when he ran them through his personal bullshit meter. Sober became humourless, solid became stiff and unbending. Raphael had always been a little single-minded, but apparently the years had twisted that until he was unyielding even when proven wrong about something.

Raphael had apparently become a dick. Despite that, Gabriel still loved him, but… He realized that he didn't want to hate Castiel for what he'd had to do. In a similar situation, Gabriel might have been forced to do the same.

After all, he doubted he was entirely innocent in whatever situation led him to his death at Lucifer's hand in the original timeline. All he would have had to do was stay out of his brother's way, but obviously, the exact opposite was what had happened.

This, this is why he'd gotten away from the rest of the family. If he had any sense, he'd just stay away from all of it this time, including Cas and the Winchesters.

Hell, especially Castiel and the Winchesters.

Apparently though, this was his millennium for doing stupid things, because honestly, the things he'd done in the pervious thousand years, didn't even come close.

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After they'd packed up and cleared out of the cabin, Bobby headed through Kansas and into Missouri. He'd come across a hunt while he'd been poking around on Sam's laptop, waiting for the boys to do the job in Ohio. He was pretty sure it was a ghost, but like all hunts, it was never one hundred percent until you were there to see it for yourself.

As an added bonus, Henricksen had called to ask him about something and it turned out he would be in the area. Apparently, there was some new information on a counterfeiting case the agent had worked a few years ago and he would be in Kansas City, Missouri to follow up on it.

Bobby set up a meet. He would be glad to get a better sense of the man, especially as he suspected that the agent would start doing a little hunting on the side. From what Sam and Dean said about the man, talking him out of it wouldn't work. Dean also said he thought the guy would be good at it. Either way, Bobby figured he'd assess him for himself, and if the boys were right, then he'd pass on some of the basic information a starting hunter would need.

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Dean and Sam drove as far as they could get before the events of the day caught up with them and they took a motel room so they could get a little sleep. Dean also used the stop to call Cas, who reported that Loki hadn't been back yet. The next day saw them make it into Adam's hometown, Windom, Minnesota.

Once they got a motel room, Sam started researching the Milligans while Dean went and physically checked on them. Dean found their house easily enough, although no one was home. The opportunity being too good to pass up, Dean let himself into the house.

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Sam looked up from his computer and frowned as Dean quietly came into the motel room and sat down on one of the beds. His brother had the look of a man who'd taken a two by four to the head and was still too dazed to realize that it hurt.

"Dean?"

His brother started slightly and looked up at him. "Hey."

Sam leaned back in his chair and looked his brother over, double-checking that he hadn't taken any physical damage. That done, he knew that what ever was going on had to be something else.

"Okay, what's up?"

His brother shook his head.

"Dean."

The older Winchester went from sitting and quiet to standing and explosive in one move. "You want to know what's up? I went and checked their house out, even went in since they weren't home. Do you know what I saw there?"

Sam shook his head.

"Pictures Sammy. Pictures of him and Adam, of him and…what's her name? Kate?" He continued at his brother's nod. "Pictures of them at a ball game, of them on a hike… Pictures of him doing things with them that he never, ever would have done with us."

"Huh."

"Huh? All you've got to say is 'Huh'?"

Sam shrugged. "What do you want me to say? Obviously even Dad wanted a little normal in his life. I wish he could have wanted it with us, but that's not what happened." He turned back his computer.

Looking disgusted with the whole thing, Dean let his body drop back down onto the bed. Idly he traced the abstract pattern on the bedspread with one finger. He sighed and gave his face a rub.

"Dad went a little too normal."

Sam looked up, his glance questioning.

"The locks and the windows are decent enough. The only reason I got in, was because the kitchen window hadn't been closed properly. The house also has an alarm system, but because the window wasn't shut, they probably couldn't set the alarm and I'm guessing they didn't have time this morning to track down the problem. That sloppiness aside, the house doesn't have any other protections."

"What?"

Dean nodded. "There's no salt, no Holy water, no devil's traps. Hell, there isn't even a horseshoe over the door. Also, there are no weapons. I mean, one rock salt loaded shotgun wouldn't be all that odd for a woman with a child living alone together to have, but there's nothing. It's no wonder something managed to kill and eat them the first time around. So what if Dad wanted normal, he still could have worked in some basic self-defence. I mean, even before he started hunting, Dad wouldn't have been this lax."

"True, but I think he really wasn't here all that often. In fact, from going through Dad's journal, it looks like he made it here for Adam's birthday most years, but that was about it."

Dean shook his head at the contradiction. Showing up for a birthday was more than they could have counted on from their father, but killing and gutting anything that threatened them would have been guaranteed. The stupid thing was, it still felt like they'd gotten the worse end of the deal.

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"So, five years ago, you and your partner at the time…"

"Agent Groves."

"Right, SA Groves… You go through a lot of partners, don't you?" Dawson asked.

Victor Henricksen rolled his eyes upward and beseeched the Heavens to add his current partner to the list of former partners. He didn't bother to answer Dawson, and as usual, the man didn't seem to notice.

"Anyway," he said. "You guys take out one counterfeiter and arrest his partner, all on the information from one of their distributors. You found all of the equipment and a good chunk of funny money, but the guy you capped manages to tell you that there's more, before he dies. You never find it and decide the confession was probably bogus. Only now, that money is showing up."

Victor nodded. "Yep. He must have parked the stuff with someone and either they didn't know what they had, or they finally had enough of sitting on it."

"Or the guy asked them to hold onto it for five years. Or whoever had it died and some relative found it and figured they were rich, or they buried it and someone just found it, same scenario, or…"

"Okay." Victor cut Dawson off, feeling a headache starting to threaten. "Either way, we're going to have to interview everyone they knew or did business with back in the day."

Dawson nodded. "You mean re-interview. Would have been nice if you'd done it right the first time."

And there was the headache. Victor was beginning to think Dawson was karma, biting him in the ass. Repayment, not so much for the long list of partners he'd gone through, because to be honest, he'd actually gotten along with most of them, but more so for everyone else.

Or maybe, just his ex wives.

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Cas had managed to patch the cracks in the third and fourth layers of his personal wards. The first two would have to wait. They had been completely destroyed and just the set up for the initial creation of them could take a couple of days or more to complete. He'd have to postpone replacing them until he had more time.

"Hey bro."

That assumed his time wasn't up.

Cas turned to his brother and nodded. "Gabriel."

"I'm still pissed." Gabriel glared him. "So I'm going to lay down a rule."

Castiel blinked. This was not what he was expecting to hear. "A rule?"

Gabe nodded. "Yep. Next time you go and try to pull off a stunt that big, I want in. We could have avoided a lot of mess if I'd been there to pull you out before it became… what it became."

"So…you want to help…us?"

"Yeah, colour me crazy, but what the hell. You are pulling off one of the biggest jokes in the history of existence. I'd kick myself forever if I wasn't a part of it."

"I… We, would very much like your help."

"Okay then. Let's see about fixing your wards. I'm sure two of us together can do it faster."

Cas was the one who was near speechless this time. "Thank you." He looked at his brother. "Gabriel."

"Yeah?"

"I have to warn you, I will do everything I have to, to protect the Winchesters. That said, please do not die this time."

The archangel smiled. "That's the plan bro. That's the plan."

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Independence, MO was a city of a little over a hundred thousand people and as part of the Kansas City Metropolitan area, was both close enough for Victor to meet with Bobby and hopefully far enough away that Dawson wouldn't stumble over them. Bobby named the meeting place. The fact that he picked somewhere public wasn't a surprise. The fact that it turned out to be an old-fashioned soda fountain was.

Victor spotted the hunter easily enough. He had checked up on the man and had seen a picture of him. Unlike the Winchesters, he didn't have much on his record. At most, there were some arrests for mail fraud and the occasional drunk and disorderly.

The hunter nodded at him as Victor came in and tilted his head towards the counter. Catching the clue Henricksen went over and bought a pastry and a coffee. Once he'd collected them, he sat down at the table with Bobby, who had ordered something similar.

Victor held out a hand. "Victor Henricksen. Bobby looked at it for a moment, and then shook it.

"Bobby Singer."

"Thanks for meeting with me."

"No problem. Actually glad to put a face to the voice." He watched the agent pick up his coffee and take a sip, relaxing once he had. He'd managed to get a dose of Holy water into the coffee pot before Henricksen arrived. "So, you wanted to ask me about something?"

"Yeah." Henricksen pulled a sheet of paper out of a pocket and passed it over to the hunter. "This is the summoning ritual that I told you about. The one that pulled in.. um, the guy in the trench coat."

"Kaseva."

Victor winced. There was a part of him that still kept trying to tell him that he was crazy for believing any of this stuff. However, since he knew that part was just being a whiny bitch, so he ignored it.

"Yeah. Anyway, I was wondering if you could help me summon him."

Bobby looked at him in surprise, and then looked at the ritual, reading it over. "Yeah, I guess. It's a fairly straight forward ritual." He looked back up at the agent. "Can I ask why?"

"The person he was being summoned to help, she had a stalker problem."

"Had?"

Victor nodded. "Yeah, seems he had a little freak accident just before my partner and I headed here. I'd like to know if Kaseva had anything to do with it. I realize I probably can't do anything about it, but I'd still need to know."

Bobby looked at the ritual again. "Now is probably not a good time to go yanking this guy around. So if it's alright with you, I'll use another method to get hold of him."

"You're the hunter. I'm more than happy to follow your lead on this."

"Good." Bobby pulled out his cell phone and scrolled through the numbers. He pressed the one he wanted and brought the phone to his ear, smiling slightly at the confused look on Henricksen's face.

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Cas was looking over the items they'd collected so far that would be used to reset his wards when his phone rang. He checked the caller id, answering it when he saw that it was Bobby.

"Hello?" From the corner of his eye, he noticed as Gabriel looked up from what he was working on and tilted his head in such a way as to let the other angel know that he was listening in on both sides of Cas' phone conversation.

"Hey, Cas. It's Bobby Singer. Um, I know you're waiting for your brother to come back, but I was wondering if you had a moment to meet up with me. I'm in Independence, Missouri on Maple, in a place called Clinton's."

Castiel felt Gabriel pull the phone out of his hand. "Did you say Clinton's?" The archangel asked.

"Uh, yeah… Loki?"

'We'll be right there."

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Bobby ended the call, looking somewhat confused. Henricksen looked at him, his expression similar to the older mans.

"Are you telling me that a pagan god…has a cell phone? And you actually have his number?"

Bobby shrugged and put his phone away. "Welcome to our world. It's just going to get weirder from here on out."

Author's note: I will be away for an undecided number of days and without computer access, so the next chapter will probably take a while longer to get out.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Author's note: And I'm back. This chapter seems to be more set up for further events than anything.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 16

Gabriel dropped the two of them about half a block from the shop in the first sight free zone available. He grabbed his brother by the arm, dragged him around the corner and practically shoved him through the door. Once inside he made a beeline for the counter, leaving Cas to his own devices.

As the place wasn't very big, he spotted Bobby easily enough and headed over to him. "Bobby." He looked at the man next to the hunter with some surprise. "Agent Henricksen."

"Cas." Bobby said, indicating a chair as he did. Castiel sat down and looked from one man to the other, waiting for one of them to speak.

Bobby glanced over at Gabriel, who was sitting on a stool, chatting up the server while waiting for his order. "So, did you two talk things over?"

Cas followed Bobby's line of sight over to his brother and nodded. "Yes. He insists on helping with further…events. He feels that things would have gone differently if he had been invited to the last one."

The hunter shook his head. "Doubt that'll go over well with Dean and Sam."

Cas just shrugged.

"Should my ears be burning?" Gabriel asked as he came up to the table carrying two cherry chocolate ice cream sodas in old-fashioned glasses. At Cas' confused expression, he rolled his eyes. "Never mind, here." He passed one of the drinks over to the younger angel.

"I do not require…"

"I don't care, drink it… more importantly, taste it."

Cas frowned at the drink. "Is that also a rule?"

"Yes." Gabriel pulled a chair up to their little table and sat down. Immediately he started in on his drink, a blissful expression crossing his face as he did.

Tentatively, Cas took a sip of his own drink. His eyes went wide as the taste hit his tongue. Gabriel smirked as Cas' next sip emptied the glass of everything except the scoop of chocolate ice cream and the cherry that had been floating on top of the soda.

"Why do I have the feeling that Cas on a sugar high isn't a good thing?" Bobby asked.

Gabriel didn't answer, but his smile was pure mischief.

"I am fine." Cas said, pushing the glass away from himself. "It would take many, many more of those to compromise me." He glanced back at the order counter, obviously considering having a few of those many, before forcibly dismissing the idea.

He turned to Bobby. "You needed me for something?"

The hunter looked at the FBI agent.

"Actually, he called you as a favour to me." Henricksen told him.

Cas just stared at him, waiting and Victor had to admit he found it unnerving, but he'd never let something like that stop him before, so he wouldn't now. "I was involved with the case where three bank robbers overran an outdoor ritual being performed by a group of pagan worshipers."

Gabriel laughed, only just managing to avoid snorting ice cream and soda out his nose. "I loved the pasties."

Cas winced slightly. "I'm afraid I reacted without due consideration."

Victor squashed the next three things he thought to say, all of them snarky. "Right, well, I actually wanted to ask you about the reason you were summoned."

Cas frowned slightly. "Actually, I do not know why I was summoned. Those men interrupted things before I could find out and as far as I know, they have not attempted the ritual a second time."

"Oh."

"Why, what has happened?"

"Ah, well. One of the group's members was being stalked. They were doing the ritual in an attempt to get a god to intervene against the man on her behalf. And now, it kind of looks like it might have happened."

Cas' eyes narrowed and slid sideways towards his brother. Gabriel held up his hands to ward him off. "Hey, don't look at me."

Ignoring his brother's words, Cas turned his head and looked at his brother, fully. "You did say you checked on the summons."

Gabriel's eyes rolled upward. "Yeah, on how it latched onto you and why, not what it was for. I didn't even know there was a stalker to play with."

Cas knew he was terrible at knowing when someone was lying when he couldn't read them through their eyes. Still, he could see no reason not to trust his brother in this matter. Gabriel was usually quite happy to blow his own horn.

As a side note, Cas was lucky that he really didn't understand puns, or he'd have known just how bad of one his last thought had been.

"What happened to the stalker?"

"He was stung to death, by bees."

Bobby frowned. "He was allergic?"

Victor shook his head. "No previous record of it. According to the preliminary report, he was simply stung so much and so fast that the overload of venom killed him."

"Hmm." Gabriel's forehead creased in thought. Even if it was just to himself, he had to admit it sounded like something he might have pulled off, depending on the finer details. "Where was he when it happened?"

"An empty house across from the woman he was after. He had the whole stalker kit set up. Cameras, microphones, and an ongoing art project using pictures of her mixed with personal items of hers that he had to have gotten by breaking into her place."

"So how did the bee's end up there?" Bobby asked, perplexed.

"One of the neighbours was trying her hand at keeping bees. She went away on holiday and they swarmed and set up a new home in the house. The agent who passed this information on to me said you could smell the honey as soon as you walked in the door."

Bobby nodded. "I've heard of that happening. They probably set up shop in the walls or something."

Victor nodded.

"Well, I'm going to restate. I didn't do it." Gabriel looked at his cousin. "Cas?"

Castiel shook his head. "I did not have a hand in this either. It is possible that she sought help through a different god, or even a demon."

Bobby nodded. "Yeah, I could see a crossroads deal going this way." He shrugged. "But at the moment, all we have is conjecture." He looked at Henricksen. "If you're intending on hunting, you might want to consider taking this on as your first job, once you get back."

Victor swallowed. Even though he knew that that was what he was going to do, stepping forward as a hunter rather than an FBI agent was a little daunting. He took a deep breath and let it out. "I'll do that."

"Good. Now then, I have to figure out how a ghost is managing to bounce all over the place, killing people. "He pointed at Victor. "You have whatever case it is you're working on." He looked from Cas to Gabriel. "And I'm not even sure I want to know what you two might get up to next."

"Actually, I am attempting to repair the wards I have been using to… avoid the rest of the family. Several layers were broken when…" Cas fell silent for a moment. "Anyway, it shall probably take a few days."

"Alright then, I guess we'll see you when we see you."

Cas nodded. Gabriel put his empty glass down and gave the area around them a glance. A group of teenagers came in, noisy enough to catch everyone's attention, including Bobby and Victors. When the two men focused back their table, they were slightly startled to find the chairs across from them empty. Bobby sighed and shook his head.

Victor laughed. "I'm going to guess they do that a lot."

"Yep."

"Well..." Victor stood and was about to give his goodbye, when a flash of movement outside of the shop caught his attention. Frowning, he headed out of the store. Bobby followed him. Both of them stood on the sidewalk and scanned the area.

"Mind telling me just what we're looking for?

Henricksen shook himself. "Nothing, it's just…"

"What?"

"I thought I saw my partner, but he should be back in Kansas City, not here." He shrugged. "Maybe I imagined it."

Bobby snorted. "One of many rules to live by as a hunter. If you think you might have imagined it, you probably didn't."

"Yeah, I was afraid you'd say something like that."

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Dean handed his brother a newly minted fake ID driver's licence. "Okay, so you're Sam Winchester." He held up his own new ID. "And I'm Dean Winchester." He shook his head. "Straight up, I never thought I'd have to fake my own ID."

Sam laughed. "Yeah, it's a new one on me too. Of course, being a formally wanted fugitive who's now officially dead, kind of makes getting replacement ID in our real names a bit difficult."

The brothers tucked their IDs into their wallets and got into the Impala, which was parked at the curb outside of the print shop they'd stopped at a couple of towns over from Windom. "So, how do we want to work this?" Sam asked.

"I don't know man. Guess it comes down to, do we phone them first, or just show up on their door step?"

Sam thought for a few moments, and then pulled out his cell phone.

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Kate Milligan was officially freaking out. She'd just hung up after being on the phone with a young man who claimed to be John Winchester's son. He'd told her that he and his brother needed to talk to her and Adam about their father.

She didn't want to believe it. John had sons. Sons he'd never told her or Adam about, even though he apparently had told them about her and her son. The young man had told her that they would be in town soon and asked where they would be comfortable meeting with them. She named a diner that she and Adam often went to.

"Hey Mom." Adam called out as he entered. "How…was your day?" He asked, his voice tapering off as he realized something was wrong. "What's up?"

"Sit. I've got something I've need to talk with you about."

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Sam and Dean stood as an attractive blonde woman and a young man entered the diner. The woman looked enough like their mom that it wasn't all that surprising that dad had fallen for her. Although in some ways, it might have been easier on them if she'd looked nothing like her.

The boy with her… came closer to looking like Dean's full brother than Sam did.

Sam held out a hand. "Um, hey. I'm Sam Winchester and this is my brother Dean." He said, indicating his brother with a tilt of his head.

Adam Milligan shook their hands, the gesture somewhat reluctant. Kate did the same and all four of them sat down at the table. A waitress, who obviously knew Kate and Adam came over and took their orders. They waited until she was back behind the counter and busy with other things before starting to talk.

"So." Kate started. "You're John's sons?"

Sam nodded. "Yes ma'am."

She took a sip of her water. "He never told us about you."

"It was mutual." Dean said, a little harsher than he'd intended to. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Sorry, what I mean is, Dad didn't talk about you either. We only recently found out about you and Adam when we were going through some of Dad's old stuff that had been put into storage.

The last was a lie, but much more plausible than, 'an angel told us about you', would have been.

"So what, you just decided to track us down and see what we're like?" Adam asked, his voice hard. Apparently, he wasn't any happier than the two of them were about their dad's secret.

Dean shrugged. "I'd be lying if I said that that wasn't part of it." He looked at his brother.

Sam sighed. "Look, there isn't a good way to say this, but we thought you had the right to know. Dad's…dead."

"What?" Adam asked, his expression and voice both lost. Beside him, Kate blinked back shock induced tears.

"What happened?" She asked.

Dean picked up the conversation. "It was a car accident, about two years ago. A semi ploughed into us on the highway. Wasn't even the other driver's fault. He'd had an undiagnosed contention, with no warning signs. Just blacked out and slammed into us. Dean grimaced. "I wasn't conscious for it, but apparently they had to airlift us to the nearest hospital. Dad…" Dean shook his head, unable to go on.

Sam took over. "Dad held on for a couple of days, they even thought he was going to be alright, but…"

Adam got up and simply left. Almost running from the diner. His mother stood, looking a little awkward. "I'm sorry… We'll… We'll try to talk with you later. She followed her son out of the diner.

When she brought them their food, the waitress wasn't looking very happy with them.

"Um, could you make those to go?" Sam asked, indicating the meals Adam and Kate had ordered. "We'll drop it off to them later."

The waitress' eyes narrowed, but she took the other two meals back to the kitchen to pack them up.

Sam and Dean ate quickly and then went to pay.

"Look, I don't know what's going on, but you better not be messing with those two. They're good people."

"Ah, no ma'am, we're not messing with them. We were just passing on the news of someone we all know passing on."

The waitress frowned at them. "Yeah, who?"

Dean really didn't think it was any of the woman's business, but he answered her anyway, curious as to how much she knew about the Milligans. "John Winchester."

The woman sucked in a surprised breath. "Adam's daddy?"

They nodded.

"Damn, how..? No, never mind. I've stuck my nose in far enough. Kate will tell me about it when she's good and ready."

They paid for their meals, both of them noticing that she didn't charge them for the two take out orders, and got out of there before she changed her mind about asking any more questions.

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Eyes red and face blotchy from crying, Kate Milligan opened her door to see Sam and Dean standing on her porch.

Sam handed her a bag with the takeout containers in it. "We had them box up your orders, figured you might want something to eat, eventually."

She took the bag from him. "Thank you. She looked behind her to see Adam standing there, looking equally as blotchy as she did, but with a layer of anger that she didn't have laying over the sadness.

"I'd invite you in, but I think we need a day or two to sort things out."

"We understand. Do you still have our number?"

She nodded.

"Then call us when you're ready to talk. We'll be in town for a few more days." They were planning to do a thorough search of the area, and hopefully avoid a replay of what happened in the previous timeline. Sadly, Cas didn't know a lot about Adam and his mom. He had been otherwise occupied when the Winchesters had originally found out about them.

"Okay." Quietly she closed the door. With a sigh from each of them, the brothers turned and headed back to the car.

It didn't seem to matter who it was with, family reunions never went well for them.

At least this time there weren't any demons, flaming ghosts that would turn out to be their mother or shadow creatures trying to kill them.

Of course, there were always the ghouls.

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Bobby frowned at the latest body he'd found. This one in Kansas City, Kansas. Like all of the other bodies, it looked like the person had almost been flayed to death. All of the previous cases had died around four o'clock. Actually, he suspected all of them had died at the same time, but fixing time of death wasn't an exact enough science to be able to prove it.

From the looks and smell of it, the guy had probably been taken out around four o'clock the day before. Once he left the apartment, Bobby stopped at a phone booth long enough to call in an anonymous tip about the body. That taken care of, he headed towards the morgue. The autopsy on an earlier victim ought to be ready by now.

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Victor could be a patient man. Although, as soon as he saw his partner again, all he really wanted to do was pin the man to a wall and introduce his gun to parts of the man's anatomy that he would really want to keep.

He didn't, but that didn't stop him from planning a place and a time when he might possibly be able to do so.

For now, he'd keep an eye on the man and work the case. Right now, this took them to the artist's partner, Rubin Bennion. The man had been in jail, but had been paroled a couple of days ago. Sentencing for counterfeiting in Kansas was usually for about five years, depending on the severity of the crime, with a fine of a quarter of a million dollars tacked on for good measure. Rubin had gotten eight years because it was his second offence and he had been working the distribution side of the crime. He had served five of those eight and was now getting off for good behaviour. As usual, Victor found himself wishing the men had pulled this crap in a state where the death penalty was still a possibility for the crime of counterfeiting. Not that one of those states would have been likely to implement it, but twenty-five to life would have been a possibility.

When they got to the piece of crap apartment that the man was living in, Victor found that someone else had decided to go ahead and pass the death sentence on to Mr. Bennion. The police and an ambulance were already at the building. By the time they got up to the apartment, they found the man's corpse being zippered into a body bag to for its trip to the morgue.

The two agents looked around the apartment. The carpet where the man had died was a bloody mess. Victor squatted and using a pencil, poked at an odd-looking section of it that turned out to be a manila envelope so covered in blood that anything written on it was unreadable. From the flatness of it, he suspected it was empty, but he had one of the lab tech guys that was working the area bag it.

When Victor stood up, he found agent Dawson in his face.

"Hey partner, why don't you take the morgue? I'm sure that checking with the coroner is more your thing anyway. I'll stay and talk with the neighbours."

Yep, his gun and Dawson's nuts. One of these days, it would happen.


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here.

Stargate SG1 is the property of MGM and probably several other people and corporations.

No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 17

Normally, Uriel would be the last Angel in Heaven to display nervousness in front of a superior, but being pulled from the siege of Hell by Zachariah personally would disturb almost anyone.

"Ah, Uriel. Good to see you."

Uriel nodded to his superior. "Sir."

"The siege is going well?"

"It progresses. We have been able to break down the outer layer of spells that kept diverting our forces from marching on the Pit. Sadly, we have hit a second layer that is causing a slowdown of movement. We believe once we managed to arrive on the other side of it we can break it, but it may take several years, Hell's time of course, before that happens."

"Well, such setbacks are to be expected." Zachariah looked the other angel over. "Uriel, as you might have guessed, I've called you here for more than just an update."

"Yes sir."

"I'm sure you've heard about what happened with the prophet, and of course, Raphael?"

Anger was a fleeting emotion across the other angel's face as Uriel nodded.

Zachariah smiled. Emotion might be frowned upon, especially for the lower ranks, but a little righteous anger was often seen as a good thing. "As you know, a prophet of the Lord always has an archangel assigned to them. However, Michael is the only one left and while he has taken on that responsibility for the moment, he has other duties. Therefore, we would like to raise you to the rank of archangel of your garrison and assign you to protect the prophet. I realize that after what has happened that it is a dangerous position, but I believe that given your past work, it is one you are capable of filling."

Uriel couldn't quite manage squash all of the pride he felt at that moment. Anyone would have been hard pressed to, angel or not.

"Thank you, sir. I shall take up my new post immediately."

"Before you do. It has come to our attention that after the incident with your previous superior, you collected her grace."

Uriel blinked, surprised. "Yes, I found it in a tree, on Earth. Although I was unable to find her, it seemed best to collect it rather than give her the chance to reclaim it."

"Yes of course, I quite agree. However, we would prefer that you pass it on to us, for safe keeping."

Uriel nodded and pulled out a glowing crystal vial on a chain, passing it to Zachariah.

"Thank you. Now take up your post and do your garrison proud."

Zachariah waited until Uriel left before taking a deeper look at the trapped grace he had been given.

"You may not be the first demon created by Lucifer, but I think once we find the rest of you, a fallen angel will work just as well to hold the final seal." He smiled. "Until it comes time to break it, of course.

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The coroner sighed when Henricksen came in and asked about the autopsy. "I haven't even started the newest one and I just finished explaining the earlier case to one of your men. Can't he pass the information on to you?"

"Other case? "

"Yes, other case. Serial killers tend to create several of them."

Actually, now that he thought of it, Victor had heard about a series of messy murders, taking place across Kansas and Missouri. He hadn't paid them much attention though, busy as he was with having his world view turned upside down and shaken like a piggy bank that refused to give up its last penny. "So, my vic here is one of them?"

"Looks like."

"Okay. Got a problem though. I haven't sent anyone over here today."

The doctor grabbed a sign in log. "SA Willis. Older man, greying at the temples. Had a beard."

"Son of a…"

"Agent Henricksen?"

"Sorry. He's from a different branch, so I'm afraid I'm going to need all the information on the first case, again."

The coroner sighed and slumped slightly. "Fine, right this way."

When the coroner pulled the sheet back from the body, Victor's stomach and expression both soured. True, it wasn't any worse than the kill he'd come in to talk about, but that didn't make it any easier to look at it.

"What did that?"

"Something thin, we suspect that they used a whip with a sharpened metal end. I realize it looks a bit like he went through a meat grinder, but really, what happened is that someone or more likely several someones, inflicted a series of shallow cuts all over his body."

"So he bled to death?"

The coroner shook his head. "No, choked actually." He went over to a refrigerator and pulled out a container and a plastic bag. The container had a red clump of something in it.

"This was in his throat." the coroner said, indicating the container. "We managed to pull loose part of the mass and once we cleaned it up we discovered this." He handed Henricksen the plastic baggy.

Victor grimaced as he realized that it contained a slightly bloody, twenty-dollar bill. 'Scratch that,' he thought as he held it up to the light to get a better look at it. 'Make that a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill.'

"The other agent said the bill was counterfeit."

Henricksen nodded. "He wasn't wrong, damn." He looked the body over again, focusing on one of the cuts, and then he looked at the bill again.

"Don't tell me you're going to suggest death by paper cut."

"Sorry?"

"The other agent, he asked me if the cuts could have been made by a piece of paper."

"Well?"

The coroner sighed. "Okay, technically, it's possible. But to have sustained that many cuts from paper in as short a time as it must have happened over, he'd have had to have been in a tornado with the stuff."

"Yeah, I suppose." Victor mulled it over for a bit and then shook his head. "I'll need a copy of your report."

"I'll get one for you." The doctor slid the body back into its drawer. Henricksen wasn't sorry to see it go. "Will you be checking in with the other agent?"

Damn well better believe he would be. "Yes, but we'll be working this case from different angles, I'll still need my own copy."

The coroner sighed again and went to deal with the paperwork. He hated dealing with government agencies. One hand never knew what the other was doing.

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In Jack's opinion, his new neighbours were the worst example of undercover surveillance he'd ever seen. You would think that if you were going to be fake vacationers at a lake, that you wouldn't constantly wear a suit and trench coat. That, and you'd think if you were at the lake, you would actually use the lake, but noooo. No swimming, no boating and no fishing. The most he'd see them do was sit on the dock.

From the lack of vehicles, it appeared that two of the four men who'd been stationed there were away and the other two hadn't come out since they'd left. Jack constantly had to fight down the urge to go over and mess with them by being neighbourly and invite them over for beers and some fishing.

Actually, now that Teal'c was visiting him, the desire was even stronger. Doing something like that when the odds were two to one was foolish. With Teal'c here though, his odds were a lot better than even.

"O'Neill, for a man who is on holiday, you do not seem to be relaxing."

"Yeah, let's just say my neighbours aren't a soothing presence."

"They have loud parties?"

"No, they are NID. Or something like."

Teal'c frowned. "Then perhaps we should go over there and deal with them."

Jack smiled. "Actually, I was thinking of being a little more subtle. Say, maybe going over there and messing with their minds."

Teal'c nodded. "That would an acceptable start."

"I thought so."

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While he was planning to go up and knock on their door, Jack figured a little advanced knowledge wouldn't hurt. To that end, he and Teal'c each picked a window to spy on and sneaked up on it.

Jack got the living room. He carefully peeked over the sill and…

…Carefully sank back out of sight and tried to process what he'd just seen. He blinked a couple of times as his brain reset. Once he was sure that his thought processes were moving as they should, he carefully eased upward and looked through the window again.

Nope, it was still there.

The guy who normally wore a suit and trench coat stood there, stripped down to nothing but a pair of black boxer briefs. The guy who had introduced himself as the first man's brother was currently painting weird symbols and squiggly lines all over said brother's body.

As Jack watched, the guy stuck the handle of the paintbrush between his teeth and snapped the fingers of his right hand. A very beautiful woman, wearing almost nothing, walked out of the kitchen, carrying a soda, which she handed off to the guy with the paintbrush. Even with the thing still in his mouth, he smiled at her and gave her behind a slap with his free hand.

The guy with the body art shook his head and said something that Jack couldn't hear. Paintbrush guy just shrugged and shooed the young woman back to whatever she had been doing. The guy took the brush out of his mouth and downed half of the drink, before he set it down and started painting his 'brother' once more.

Jack snuck away from the house.

Teal'c met him.

"I do not believe they are NID." He told Jack.

"Yeah, I kinda get that feeling too." One of Jack's eyebrows rose as he noticed that Teal'c looked very uncomfortable. "How did you come to that conclusion, anyway?"

Teal'c looked away from him. "I glanced into the bedroom. There were two very healthy young women in there… They were doing things that I once saw with you that involved jell-o and bikini's, only without the jell-o, or the bikini's."

"Ah." Jack nodded. "Well, at least I know why they haven't been out of the cabin much since they got here." He looked at his friend. "How 'bout we go back to my cabin and get very drunk and pretend we never saw that?"

Teal'c nodded. This was a much better plan than the last one Jack had had.

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"I believe they are gone Gabriel."

The archangel finished the last bit of the Enochian warding spell he was painting onto Cas' body. "Yep, I think you're right."

Cas waited a moment. "That mean's you don't need to have two of your creations making out in the master bedroom."

"Spoilsport." Gabriel snapped his fingers and silence descended on the cabin.

"Thank you." Putting these spells together was hard enough without that kind of distraction.

Gabriel put his paintbrush down and backed away. "Okay, do it."

Cas sent power into the symbols. Starting at his feet, the painting started to glow gently, the brightness increasing as it moved up his body. By the time it reached his chest, it was blinding. When it reached his head, there was a flash and above them, something very like thunder cracked the sky open. The glow receded and Cas stood there, his body now clean of Gabriel's artwork.

"Well, that's one ward reset." Gabriel said. "We're going to have to wait a day or so to let things settle before we attempt the last one."

Cas nodded, looking himself over.

"So," Gabriel asked, his expression an attempt at innocence. "How about we go mess with your neighbours some more while we wait? "

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Sam and Dean both trained their guns on Cas and a grumpy looking Gabriel as the two of them suddenly appeared in the boys' motel room.

"Don't do that!" Dean said as he lowered his weapon. "One of these days I'll end up shooting you and I'll be holding the Colt when I do."

Cas smiled slightly, recognizing Dean's words as worry, rather than a threat. "I apologize. I just thought it best to get Loki away from the cabin for a while. "

Gabriel sat down on one of the beds and slumped. "It's not like I was going to hurt them. Not permanently anyway."

Dean looked at the trickster angel. "Do we even want to know?"

"The neighbours were spying." Cas told them. "Ga..Loki took care of it."

Both Winchesters stiffened. "When you say he took care of it…" Sam started to ask.

"Don't panic. I only messed with their minds." Gabriel smiled in sudden realization. "They'll probably look at us funny the next time we're there. I can definitely build off of that."

"Again, do we want to know?"Cas sighed. "My brother was helping me reset one of my wards."

"Why would that..?"

Gabriel cut Dean off. "It required semi nudity and body paint on Cas' part."

"Yep, didn't want to know."

Cas coughed slightly. "Loki also added a few of his underdressed female creations to the mix. Whatever it was that Jack and his friend were expecting when the peered into the windows, I do not believe it was that."

"Yeah." Dean frowned. "I wonder what they were expecting."

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Bobby looked at the caller id on his cell phone and grimaced. As soon as he'd seen that counterfeit twenty-dollar bill, he'd had the sinking feeling he'd be dealing with Henricksen sooner, rather than later. He flipped his phone open, but didn't say anything.

"Agent Willis?"

"Agent Henricksen?" Yes, the man did not sound happy.

"I see that your department has taken a sudden interest in my case. I was wondering if we could meet and discuss the situation."

"If you think that's wise."

He heard Victor sigh. "Better than walking in blind."

Well, Bobby couldn't argue that. "Where are you now and can you get away from your partner?"

"I just left the coroner's office. He's probably still at the scene." Silence followed, but Bobby suspected that the man was just mulling over his options. "How about meeting me at my hotel."

"You got your own room?"

Victor laughed. "Yeah, no way I'd feel safe sleeping in the same room with that man."

Bobby frowned. He wasn't sure what was going on with Henricksen and his partner, but it didn't sound good. "Okay, give me the address, I'll meet you there."

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Henricksen didn't see Bobby anywhere in the lobby as he entered his hotel. Moving to the front desk, he checked if he'd had any messages or mail. The clerk passed him a couple of phone messages and then laid a heavily filled, manila envelope on the counter for him. Frowning, Victor reached for it, only to have someone grab his hand before he could touch it.

Startled, the agent looked up into Bobby Singer's frowning face.

"What?"

"I wouldn't touch that if I were you. As far as I can tell, every person that the ghost I'm tracking killed, got one of those before they died."

Bobby let go and Victor moved his hands away from the package.

"Okay. Any idea why? Or more specifically, why me?"

"I'm working on it." Bobby pulled out a cloth bag, with symbols stitched into it. Only touching the cloth, he managed to slide the envelope into it. He shut it and tied it off with a sigh of relief.

"So." He said, looking at the agent. "I'd say we definitely need to compare notes."

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Henricksen looked at the tiny little bottles of room service alcohol and briefly imagined how nice it would be to down the lot of them.

"You can go to a bar and get drunk, after we deal with this." Bobby told him.

"Yeah, they're too small anyway."

They both sat down at the small table in the room and pulled out a file. Victor decided to forge ahead and went first.

"Five years ago, I and my partner of the time, SA Groves, tracked a team of counterfeiters to this state. Most of the small fry, the guys who were doing the distributing for them, managed to disappear on us. However, we did manage to catch one of them. He rolled on the artist and the main distributor. When we caught the distributor, Rubin Bennion, he rolled on the artist, Philip Spars. When we went after him, he resisted. Pulled out a gun and tried to take my partner out. I ended up shooting him to stop him. He died on the way to hospital. "

Bobby shook his head at the mess. Victor had to nod in agreement. "Yeah, welcome to my world."

Bobby laughed, and then opened his file. "I've been tracking what looks like either a cursed item, or a ghost tied to an item. Given the envelopes that were found at each of the scenes, I think someone living is directing whoever or whatever it is."

They both looked at the bag that held the package.

"Here's who's already dead." The hunter started to pull pictures out of his file. "Rubin Bennion was the newest one. Ben Darcy…"

"Darcy?" Victor asked, interrupting. "That was the small fry distributor."

Bobby nodded. He had suspected as much. "He also went down in Kansas City. Kyle Waters bit it in St. Louis. Cassandra Abbot in Topeka, Kansas and Erwin Shaw in Carthage, MO. All of them had records and they dealt with funny money more than once."

"They're probably the guys that originally got away. " Victor looked the pieces over. "So, we have them, the partners that screwed Spars, and me, the guy who killed him."

"What about the agent that was with you back then?"

Victor shook his head. "He's undercover. It's why I got stuck with checking on this. He's probably alright." Victor shrugged. "Even I wasn't allowed to know where he is."

"Okay, not perfect, but okay. So, do you remember anyone from back then who was especially upset about you offing this guy?"

Victor winced. "Yeah, his mother.

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The day before Bobby and Victor's conversation, Vera Spars sat and carefully glued stamps to the last two of six packages she had made up. She was running out of time. She thought she'd have years to work out her and her son's revenge, but a recent trip to the doctor's had told her that the fatigue and the aching bones weren't just a sign of old age. The doctors told her it was cancer and that she had maybe three to six more months to live. She knew better though. She could tell it wasn't months. It was days.

Once she'd found Philip's last stash. The last example of his artistry and had managed to tie his spirit to it, she had intended that they take their revenge out on one or two of them a year, saving the FBI agents who had killed him for last. Now though… She wouldn't last long enough to do it, so she'd sped things up. The only problem was, she couldn't find the last of them.

So now, she was going to have to do something desperate and uncertain.


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Author's note: Do not panic. Original characters are only passing through.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 18

SA Dawson stopped long enough at the front desk of his hotel to pick up his mail and messages, before heading up to his room. Too tired to look them over, he dropped them on the little table in the room before stripping down and heading into the bathroom.

One quick shower later, he came out into the main part of the room in a towel and fished his cell phone out of his pant's pocket. He scrolled through the numbers, hitting the one for his partner as he sat down at the table. Tucking the phone up to his ear, he started to go through the mail he had ignored earlier.

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Victor paused in mid-word as his phone went off. "Sorry." He pulled it out, rolled his eyes up towards the ceiling as he saw who it was and answered it. "Henricksen."

"Hey partner, just got back. Thought we should compare notes." Dawson said.

Victor glanced at Bobby. "Sure, when?"

"Well, it's four o'clock. I'm just cleaning up…" Dawson slid the contents of a large envelope out onto the table. "Holy shit."

"Dawson?"

"I mean…shit. You will not believe what I just got in the mail."

"I don't know, Publisher's Clearing House?"

"Ha, funny, ha. No. Money, a lot of it." Henricksen heard the sound of a large piece of paper crinkling. "I didn't check who it was for. It was in care of the FBI at this address, but it was for your old partner, Groves."

"You just got a large envelope of money, which was addressed to my ex-partner?" Henricksen looked wide-eyed at Bobby. The hunter had a similar expression on his face. Both men stood up.

"Tell him to get out of there."

"What?" Henricksen asked.

"All of the deaths took place just after four o'clock. Tell him to get out of there."

"Dawson, get out of there, get out of there now." They started to head for the door.

He heard his partner snort. "I'm not even dressed. Tell you what, meet me at my room in twenty."

"Dawson! Crap, he hung up."

"Where's his room?"

"One floor up."

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Dawson was just setting his phone down when one of the paper bands on one of the stacks of money let go with a snap. Then another one broke, then another, then… all of them.

Dawson gave one of the stacks a poke. "Must be cheap glue."

One of the bills caught an eddy of air, from somewhere and blew up into the air, startling the agent. As he watched, another one caught the same bit of a breeze, then five more, then ten… Dawson reached out and tried to grab some of the bills.

"Ow." He jerked his hand away from them and looked at the cut that ran across his palm. Like piranha scenting blood in the water, the rest of the bills exploded into a boiling mass of flying paper. Dawson backed away from it, but it was too late. Cuts appeared on his shoulders, his chest, and his face. Yelling, he clawed some of the paper out of the air and started to stumble his way to the door. Cuts to his legs made him falter and the towel that had been around his waist fell to the floor in front of him, tripping him.

And once he was down, he didn't stand a chance.

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Bobby and Victor pelted up the stairs. As they hit the next floor, Henricksen yelled out the room number, but it wasn't necessary. It was easy to tell where they were supposed to go by the screaming.

Not bothering with finesse, Victor kicked the door open. He froze for a moment as he took in the sight of his partner being attacked by an apparently sentient mass of flying money. Bobby pushed him aside and using a knife throw, threw something through the crazed whirlwind of counterfeit bills.

The money suddenly froze in midair and then dropped, pelting the bloody and moaning man on the floor.

"Grab him." Bobby yelled.

The two of them dragged agent Dawson out of the room, Bobby picking and throwing bloody bills off him as they did. The man made choking sounds and attempted to scream as they laid him down on the floor in the hall, making sure to place him more on his side and his front, rather than his back. Henricksen would have put him in the proper recovery position, to make sure he wouldn't continue to choke, but was afraid to hurt him further by moving him around that much.

While Bobby endeavoured to secure the door, despite the broken lock, Henricksen used his cell phone to call 911.

"How's he holding up?" Bobby asked from where he was guarding the door.

Henricksen checked Dawson's pulse, also worried as the man had gone silent. "He's alive. Hopefully he's just unconscious." Given the damaged he'd taken, oblivion was currently his best choice. By falling, Dawson had actually protected a lot of the front of his body, but his back from head to heels… Raw hamburger meat was the first comparison that came to mind.

Bobby kept his eye on the door. "Looks like it didn't have enough time to stuff itself down his throat."

Alerted to the 911 call, hotel staff came rushing off the elevator. They froze at the sight of the two men standing and kneeling over a very bloody third man. Henricksen flashed them his FBI badge. The staff relaxed enough to bring over the first aid kit and blanket they had brought with them.

Victor did what he could for Dawson, until the paramedics got there. Then he turned the responsibility over to them. Bobby told him to go with his partner. Implicit in that order, was the fact that Bobby would stay behind to finish dealing with whatever it was that had attacked Dawson.

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A careful look into the room showed that the blood covered, fake money was still lying quietly, if scattered, across the carpet. Bobby moved to the far wall and pulled out the iron dirk he'd thrown through the whirlwind. His knelt down and started collecting the money, impaling each bill on the blade as he did. When that one was full, he pulled another dirk out from his jacket and continued. He was interrupted once, by some uniformed police officers. He chased them away with his FBI badge. Thankfully, he managed to finish up before any detectives arrived on the scene.

A container of salt from the kitchens and a trip into the bowels of the hotel to borrow one of the boilers, and that little bit of deadly paper was gone. The question was, was there more of it, and where was it?

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Gabriel looked around at the crypt he was standing in and sighed.

"I'm bored."

The other three men in the mausoleum, two of whom were using flashlights to get a better look at things, froze.

Looking far more uncomfortable than an outsider could have understood, Dean caught one of the other men's' attention.

"Cas, I don't want to chase you away, but I think you need to find something for him to do, before he comes up with his own entertainment, again."

Shortly before they had left the motel room, Loki had also uttered that same statement. Dean hadn't minded the sudden appearance of the dancing girls and the all you can eat buffet. However, he had minded the gold lamé loincloths that had replaced all of their clothing at the same time.

Thankfully, Cas had a disapproving glare that was almost as good as a mother's would have been. Loki had put everything back, albeit, grudgingly.

The angel nodded. "Actually, I know Henricksen plans to look into it, but I would like to check up on the group that summoned me a while back."

Gabriel's face scrunched up in annoyance. "Alright, I guess we could go do that." He blinked, and it was as if a light bulb had just gone off in his head. "Hey, if you're going to keep showing up as Kaseva, then you're going to need a disguise."

Cas' face was the one that scrunched up this time. Sighing, he nodded. "Yes, you are probably right." He looked at Sam and Dean. "We'll catch up with sometime later."

And with that, he and Loki were gone.

"Oh, we are so going to owe him." Dean said.

Sam could only nod.

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The brothers looked around for a few minutes longer before Dean more or less threw his hands up into the air. "We've got nothing. If there are ghouls coming, then they aren't here yet."

"Yeah, gotta agree with you there." Sam turned off his flashlight and gave the matter some thought. "If they are heading here, they may be hitting other graveyards on the way. I'll see if I can use that to track them."

Dean nodded. "Sounds good." He waved his flashlight towards the door. "Let's get out of here."

"Mmm."

Once they were back at the motel, Sam started on his graveyard search and Dean got roped into tracking what their Dad must have done when he came through town the first time, in case there was a connection.

"Hey, look at this." Dean passed Sam an old newspaper photo. "See anyone we know?"

Sam snorted as he saw his father's face poking around the edge of a tree, watching as the police recovered what was left of the bodies that the ghouls had taken.

Dean took the article back and looked it over. "I'd say it was definitely ghouls back then too. Get the feeling Dad might have missed one or more. I mean, seventeen bodies is a lot of food to store for the winter.

Sam grimaced at him, but nodded in agreement. "So, do you think it's a coincidence that they're going after Dad's girl and son here, or just dumb luck?"

"When it comes to us and beasties, when is it ever dumb luck?"

Sam sighed. "Pretty much never."

"Yep." Dean read the article over again. "Hey, think that maybe Dad had someone in the police helping him on this? I mean, they seemed to have had a little more information than the average sheriff's office would. That, and the line of cover up bull is a lot better than what most places use."

"Yeah, I still remember the town that tried to blame vampire attacks as accidental barbeque fork impalement." Sam shook his head. "It made no sense at all, the marks are nothing alike."

Dean nodded, grimacing. That place been weird. Personally, he blamed too much Buffy in their television diet. "Anyway, I think I'm going to track down the deputy of the time. I'm betting that if anyone that got involved with this, it was him. Even if it wasn't, he might know stuff he doesn't know… If you know what I mean."

Sam nodded, only mildly disturbed that he did indeed know what his brother meant.

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Dean stopped at the police station first, trying to track Joe Barton down. He passed himself off as a friend of the family through his dad. Turned out the guy had left the sheriffs office some years ago and was now running a bar with his wife. That, of course, was Dean's kind of investigating.

The bartender, a middle-aged man, put a beer in front of him without Dean asking. "First beer's free for police officers. Although, I'm guessing that you're an out of state one, or a Fed."

Dean blinked at him, a little surprised. If he'd been wearing his Fed suit, he could have at least partially understood the mix up. However, since he was passing as someone trying to look up an old friend of his fathers, he had dressed in his usual casual style.

"How?"

The second bartender, a woman, about the same age of the first gave him a smile. "We know all the local badges." She shrugged. "You've just got that law and order vibe to you."

Dean gave an almost inaudible huff of laughter. Obviously he spent too much time pretending to be FBI agents and Federal Marshalls if he could pass for them when he wasn't trying. He took a sip of his beer and then set the glass down on the counter. "You wouldn't happen to be Joe Barton, would you?" Dean asked the male bartender.

"I would." The man frowned at him. "Might I ask why you're asking?"

Dean held out his hand and hoped that Dad hadn't had a falling out with this man, as if he had with so many hunters that they knew. "Names Dean Winchester. I'm trying to track down anyone who might have known my Dad, John. It would have been about nineteen or so years ago, back in 1990."

The guys jaw dropped open, but he shook Dean's hand. "Yeah, yeah I definitely knew your Dad." He paused and looked Dean over. "Guess you're in the same line of work as he was."

Dean nodded. "Yeah. Actually, I'm trying to find someone who might know something about the job he worked back then."

Joe hesitated. "You can't ask him yourself?"

Dean shook his head. "No, I'm afraid he died two years ago. Car accident."

"Damn, I'm sorry to hear that." He looked at the female bartender. "Hon, I'm just going to go the back with Dean here for a bit, can you cover?"

She nodded. "I'll buzz for you if I need you."

"Thanks." With a tilt of his head, he indicated that Dean should follow him. They moved into a small office in the back where the bar obviously did most of its paperwork.

Barton went around the desk and sat down. Dean took the only other chair in the room.

"So, I've go to ask. Was it really a car accident?"

"Yeah." Dean was only about seventy-five percent sure that the guy was in the know, which he figured was good enough to risk some of the truth. "However, if I said the driver of the other vehicle wasn't exactly human, would that comes as much of a surprise to you?"

The guy shook his head. "No, can't say that it does. Have to say, I'd always hoped that that one brush I had with… that sort of thing, would be my only one." He sighed. "So, what do you need to know?"

"Dad's notes from then are missing, but from what we do know, you guys had a ghoul problem back in 1990. I just need you to tell what you remember about it."

"It was a real mess. If it hadn't been for your Dad, it or something worse would probably still be going on." He leaned back in his chair and over the next half an hour, told Dean everything that happened almost nineteen years ago.

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Gabriel had been enthusiastic about coming up with Cas' disguise, but when it actually came time to track down Kaseva's worshipers, he begged off, citing a hundred and one things he needed to do in the next five minutes.

Given the list, Cas was certain that it wouldn't take the archangel any more than four minutes to complete, tops.

"I have a few irons in the fire, Cas. Things that I need to check on, people I need to talk to." He gave a slight shrug. "A few I need to avoid."

Cas frowned at him.

"Hey, it takes longer to get around them, than doing everything else does."

"Ah."

"Anyway, go check up on your, whatever's they are. Oh yeah, don't scare them too much with the new look."

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Cas started with the park where the ritual had been held. From there, he was able to track the caster back to a quiet home in a suburban neighbourhood. He hoped from her he would be able to trace the petitioner.

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Delores Douglas, AKA Ravenlight, place a cup of tea on the coffee table in front of Rakel, deciding against handing her the cup as she was still shaking too much to hold it. She sat down across from her and took a sip of her own tea, suspecting she'd need the fortification for what the girl had to tell her.

"I thought it was over, you know? Once he was dead, I thought I was free." Rakel said, staring down at her tea. "I did it. I made a deal." She winced at Ravenlight's shocked expression. "And now, I think I was actually better off with the stalker." She picked up her cup of tea and down the contents in one go. Delores winced at the sight. The beverage was still very hot.

"We actually did summon something that day, didn't we? If it hadn't been for those men, he might have helped and I wouldn't have…"

"Rakel, what did you bargain with?"

Tears started to drip down her face. "My soul." She wiped at her eyes. "I… Is there anyway to fix this?"

Ravenlight honestly didn't know and was about to tell her as much when something appeared before them. The shape was human, but the details were lost in darkness. He was like a shadow, brought to life. However, he was so devoid of light, Ravenlight was certain that if she touched him, she would be pulled into him, to find herself lost in the furthest reaches of outer space where no stars shined.

Mouth dry, she stood, feeling vulnerable sitting. If this was what Rakel sold her soul to, then she was screwed. At the moment, Ravenlight didn't hold out much hope for herself either. As it turned to look at her, she realized that he did have one human feature that she could see. His eyes. Blue orbs shone from the darkness where a face ought to be, the only light in a vastness of night.

"Who are you?"

"I am Kaseva. I have come to speak with you about the summoning."

Back on the couch, Rakel started to scream.


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Author's note: Do not panic. Original characters are only passing through.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 19

"Rakel!" Ravenlight's voice snapped out, stopping the young woman in mid shriek. The older woman turned to the being in front of her. To be honest, she wanted to curl up and do a little screaming herself, but she had the feeling that further insulting this god could very well get the two of them dead, if they weren't already.

"We… we didn't summon you."

The dark head tiled and she could feel its gaze burn into her.

"No, but the previous summons was interrupted and the ritual was not closed properly. There was still enough of an invitation open for me to follow it to you."

Oh, crap.

Ravenlight looked at him, and then away. It was surprisingly difficult to gaze at something that was so dark you thought you were going to fall into it.

"You…you appeared differently that time."

Kaseva actually looked down at himself, as if to check his appearance. "Yes. Would that form be more comfortable for you?"

"I think so, yes."

One moment he was shadow, the next he was the man in the trench coat. She heard Rakel shift behind her and almost cringed when the girl asked a question.

"Is that your real form?"

Kaseva looked at himself once again. "No."

"Oh… Why not?"

Ravenlight winced, what had gotten into the girl? A glance showed her that Rakel was one teetering step away from going into shock.

The trickster tilted his head, appearing to look Rakel over for something. Ravenlight stiffened when he did the same for her and then shook his head. "Because, you would very likely not survive the experience."

Rakel's mouth opened in an 'o' shape, but no sound came out. Ravenlight decided to take over before the girl freaked out and got them both killed.

"We apologize for not having the proper offerings for you. If you are willing to wait, I will prepare something for you."

Kaseva raised an eyebrow at the offer and for a moment, she worried that she may have made things worse with the suggestion.

"It is of no matter. There were appropriate offerings present at the original summoning." He looked at Rakel. "As they were acceptable, I came to hear your petition."

That was the last shock. Rakel's mouth snapped shut and her eyes rolled up into her head as she passed out.

Ravenlight clamped down on the desire to follow the girl into unconsciousness. Instead, she focused on the problem in front of her. She took a slightly startled breath as she realized that Kaseva had actually been taken aback by Rakel fainting.

"I had heard that the problem may have been dealt with." He frowned as he looked at the young woman. "I am not angry that other help was sought, not after the petition went unheard."

Ravenlight spoke carefully. "Pardon, my Lord."

Cas winced. "Do not call me that!" He said sharply.

Startled, she took a step back.

He sighed. "I apologise, please, simply use my name."

She nodded.

"What did you wish to tell me?"

"Rakel told me she bartered her soul to stop the stalker. Do you know of anyway to…?"

Cas shook his head. "Crossroad deals are almost impossible to get out of."

Ravenlight closed her eyes for a moment in sadness. She opened them again, frowning as a thought struck her.

"Actually, she didn't say what kind of a deal it was, only that it involved her soul." She glanced at the girl. "I'm not even sure she'd know how to make a crossroads deal."

Kaseva frowned and then waved his hand above Rakel's body. He stared intently at girl, apparently expecting something to happen. "She doesn't appear to have a contract. " He thought that over for a moment. "I believe I need to consult with someone about this." He pulled out his cell phone and hit Bobby's number. He glanced up to see the surprise on Delores Douglas' faces.

Cas sighed. "Yes, I own a cell phone. My chosen warrior is human and active in the world. It is simply easier to contact him and his associates this way."

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Bobby was just collecting Henricksen from the hospital were the agent had been waiting for word on his partner. The man was stable for now, but he wouldn't be going anywhere for a very long time. Victor was sliding into Bobby's car when the hunter's phone rang.

"Singer."

Victor threw him a questioning look as the older man frowned.

"Yeah, I guess. Still sounds more witchy than demony though." Bobby said to whomever he was talking with.

The agent's eyes widened at the conversation.

"Uh huh. Bees, right?" Bobby's expression got thoughtful as he listened.

Henricksen shook his head and did up his seat belt. The man beside him was talking on a cell phone to a pagan god who was trying to hunt down a…

"Sounds like you may have a demon powered witch on your hands, or maybe a demon passing herself off as a witch to train new witches. They boys have run into that before. It's possible she just did a little soul buying on the side. "

Bobby listened for a bit more and then shrugged, even though the person on the other side couldn't see him.

"I'd really need more information. You should try to get a look at the body and check the place the guy bought it. See if there's any hex work being done. Huh? Oh, okay." Bobby ended the call and looked at Henricksen. "Guess he decided to check the problem out himself."

"Good. I think I may have all I can handle at the moment with the killer money. Don't really want to add killer bees to the equation." He shifted a little in his seat. "So, where are we headed?"

"To interview your dead counterfeiter's mother, despite the late hour. She's the most likely person to have sent out those packages. Hell, she probably also passed out enough of the money on her own to catch your guys' attention." He glanced over at the agent. "I'm surprised that you hadn't talked to her already."

"We would have, but she cited health problems along with doctor's appointments that she had to attend. We checked it out. It was legit. We were supposed to talk to her tomorrow."

Bobby nodded and both men jerked slightly as the hunter's phone went off. Frowning, Bobby pulled it out and answered it.

"Cas? What? You've already checked the body and the house?" He shook his head. "Okay. What did you find?"

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"There are bees at the house, but the man did not die by their sting." Cas told him. "The completed autopsy shows that he had a severe allergic reaction to an unknown substance, not bee venom, which covered him with boils that were initially mistaken for massive stinging. It turned out they were everywhere, inside and outside of his body. The ones in his throat choked him to death. Also, I found no evidence of hex work." He looked at the young woman on the couch who had come out of her faint while he'd been checking on the body.

"I suspect that I may actually know who is behind this, but I would have to do something invasive and painful to the woman who made the deal to know for certain."

The girl curled up on herself and Ravenlight stood in front of her with a very pissed off expression on her face. Cas suspected it was a good thing that she was getting over her fear of him, even if the timing for it was bad.

Cas tilted his head as he listened to Bobby's advice. "Yes, of course, that would be the most practical thing to attempt first. Thank you." He ended his call and turned to the two women.

"What are you planning to do?" Delores asked.

"The suggestion was made that before I try anything too extreme, that I should see if asking a few questions would get me similar results."

Rakel took a deep breath. "Okay, if it will help."

Cas nodded. "Did you actually see the person or being that you made the deal with?"

"Yes."

"Describe him."

"Um, well. I think he had an English accent."

Cas' eyes narrowed, because Crowley quickly came to mind with that description.

"He was tall…ish. Blond."

Not Crowley and sounding much more like…

"He wore this shirt with a really deep v-neck to it." She laughed a little self-consciously. "I guess that's not the type of detail you need."

"On the contrary, it helps a lot."

Balthazar. Really, it had to be.

In the original time line, Cas had heard about his friends supposed death during the siege of Hell. Given what Gabriel had told him about this time line's storming of Hell, he'd thought the angel might not get the chance to fake his own death when the demons kept running away. However, with this new event, it appeared that not only had he managed it, but he'd also gotten hold of at least one of Heaven's weapons sooner than he had the first time around.

"Um, sir?"

Cas blinked and refocused on the two women in front of him.

"I believe I may be able to free you from your deal." He told the younger one.

Rakel looked hopeful, Ravenlight less so.

"And what would be the cost?" She asked.

"I will need a non-life threatening amount of blood from one of you to cast a tracking spell." He thought for a moment. He actually did derive power from the offerings made to Kaseva. Compared to his current power levels, it was a drop in the bucket. However, Gabriel was right, every little bit helped. "And if I am successful, then a small offering made each night for the next month would be ample payment."

"More blood?" Rakel asked, cringing slightly.

Cas shook his head. "No. Beer and honey are traditional. However, I am also fond of cherries and chocolate." He shrugged. "In any case, as long as the offering is heartfelt, that is truly all that matters."

Rakel glanced at Ravenlight and then nodded. "I can do that."

"Very well, I need a piece of chalk, a bowl, Holy water, myrrh and the blood." Both he and Rakel looked at Ravenlight.

"I'll go check the kitchen."

In the end, the Holy water was the only thing Cas had to fetch to complete the spell.

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Bobby and Victor pulled up to Vera Spars' house around 9:30pm. Since it was summer, there was still an edge of light in the sky, but it would be gone in just a few more minutes. The area was quiet, there didn't even seem to be any nosy neighbours about. They were up the walk and knocking on the door in seconds.

Standing there, Victor's nose wrinkled as he caught a whiff of something. Bobby must have caught it at the same time.

"Gas!"

"Shit." Victor banged on the door, hard. "Mrs. Spars?" He knocked again and when no one answered, he backed up and kicked the door in .

Gas fumes hit them like a wall and both men covered their mouths and noses with one of their arms. They separated at the door. Victor headed for the kitchen and the most likely place the gas was coming from. As he had suspected, the gas oven door was open and the burners were at the on position, but the pilot light was blown out.

Henricksen shut the oven down and opened the kitchen window, briefly noticing an open bottle of vodka and one glass that was sitting on the kitchen table. Then he went looking for Bobby. He found him in the main bedroom, leaning over the prone figure of a woman who was laid out on the bed. Singer looked up at him as he came in and shook his head. Using a handkerchief, he pulled a piece of paper out of her hands and then motioned for Victor to back up. Bobby joined him in the hall and pointed towards the front entrance. They were just heading towards it when the door slammed shut.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me." Henricksen said, his eyes wide.

Standing in front of the door was a shape that might have passed for a man, if it wasn't for the fact that it was composed completely of money. Bobby grabbed the agent and the two of them hauled ass into the kitchen. He shoved Henricksen towards the back door, even as he cranked the oven back on and grabbed the bottle of vodka and a napkin off the table. The agent had managed to unlock the back door and pull it open, when they heard the rustle of paper at the entrance to the kitchen.

"Go."

Victor scrambled out the door with Bobby behind him. The older man slammed it shut and moved to the middle of the back yard. He wet the napkin down with a bit of the vodka and then stuffed it into the bottle as he did. He was lighting the napkin with a lighter he'd fished out of his pocket as the money golem opened the door. In one smooth move, Bobby tossed the burning bottle into the kitchen, through the window Victor had opened earlier.

The newest gas released to the air caught first, before the bottle even had a chance to break and spread the flames further. Then the rest of the gas still trapped in the house went up. Victor and Bobby found themselves on the ground, covering their heads as they were pelted with little bits of burning counterfeit money. They rolled further away from the fire, brushing themselves off once they were far enough from it to feel safe enough to stand.

"Well, I've got some good news and some bad news." Bobby said as they watched the house burn, the sound of fire engines coming closer as they did.

"So what's the good news?"

"I'm pretty sure I know what she did." He looked at the letter the woman had been holding. "Using the counterfeit money she sent you, I should be able to cancel the spell that connected her son's spirit to it. So it and all of the other bills out there will go inert."

"Great." Henricksen decided to get out of the yard and headed out the back gate and through the yard next door, so they could get back to the car.

"So, what's the bad news?"

"You're the one who gets to come up with a plausible explanation for this in your report."

Victor groaned and rubbed at his forehead. "Just, great."

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Dean stuffed a pillow over the gun he'd been cleaning when a knock came on their motel room door. Sam threw him a quick look and then went to answer it.

Adam stood on the other side of the door. The young man was obviously nervous, but he still had that edge of anger they'd seen before.

"Hey."

Adam nodded at him. "Hey. You're Sam, right?"

He nodded. "Yeah, and that's Dean." He said, indicating his brother with a wave of his hand. Sam glanced past Adam and out into the parking lot. "Is your Mom with you?"

"No. I, uh, I wanted to talk with the two of you…" He shrugged. "You know, alone."

"Okay." Sam stepped back to let him in. Dean gave his brother a discrete glare and glanced down at the pillow covering his gun. Sam shrugged. Dean grimaced and shifted slightly so he was now sitting partially on the pillow and gun, something he was only willing to do because he'd unloaded the weapon before starting to clean it.

Meanwhile, Sam pulled out one of the crappy chairs that came with the room for Adam and then sat down on the other bed himself. Sam and Dean both looked the young man over as he shifted nervously.

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Dad. I mean, I didn't even know who he was until I was twelve and I only saw him once or twice a year even then. Birthdays and things. You guys actually grew up with the man."

Dean gave a snort of laughter.

"What?"

Dean shook his head. "We grew up with him, but to be honest, he wasn't around much, especially on birthdays, Christmas or any holiday that involved family values.

"Dean."

"Come on Sam, normally you'd have been the first to point that out."

Sam gave him a low-level bitch face and glanced at Adam.

Dean sighed. "Okay, okay. I know he didn't mean to do that to us." He sighed again and he focused on Adam. "I loved the man, still do in fact, but after our mom died, he kind of lost it. Just threw himself into his work so much that there really wasn't much room left in his life for… well, life."

Adam let loose a breath of air with a 'ha'. "Sounds like each of us is envious of the other for only getting a part of dad."

Dean nodded. "Yeah, but really, that was no ones fault, but Dads. I, for one, would like to get to know all of my littlest baby brother."

Adam groaned. "You're not going to call me that all the time, are you?"

Sam laughed before Dean could answer. "Personally, I kind of like having someone else get stuck with the baby brother stuff for a change.

Both Dean and Adam glared at him.

Sam smiled. Oh yeah, this could be lots of fun.

"So, how about you? What's your Mom like?"

Adam smiled. "She's great. It's mostly only ever been the two of us. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I got to know Dad, but…"

"But she's the one you'd sell your soul to save if you had to." Dean said.

Sam did not look happy with Dean as Adam nodded. "Yeah, that's exactly it." He looked from one of his brothers to the other. "Given what you said about Dad, I'm going to guess that if you feel the same way, then it's about each other."

"Let's just say that on occasion, we've done some pretty stupid things to protect each other."

Sam snorted at Dean's statement and cut Adam off before he could ask.

"No, we're not going to tell you what they were. Trust me, you're better off not knowing."

And that brought up the elephant in the room that Adam didn't even know about. What could they tell Adam that would keep him safe through all the crap that was coming, without having him think they were insane or letting him know about hunting and the supernatural?

"You know what, I'm still bored."

Adam jerked back in his chair as a short man with sandy hair and a giant grin on his face appeared in the middle of the room. Sam and Dean acted instinctively, pulling weapons out from hiding places before they could stop themselves.

"Loki, what?"

"I told you, I'm bored." He raised his hand.

"Guys?" Adam asked, getting to his feet and backing away.

"No! Loki, whatever you're planning to do…" Sam started to say, knowing it was a lost cause as the angel's smile got even bigger.

And then, he snapped his fingers.


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 20

"I'm going to kill you." Dean growled as he held onto a railing for dear life, with no intention of looking straight down a second time.

Gabriel smirked at him. "See, you should have just gone with the gold lame loincloths and the dancing girls."

Beside him, a very shaky looking Adam walked up to the railing and wrapped his hands around it as he looked out at the city below him.

"We're in Paris." He looked straight down the length of the building they were on, the early morning light more than enough to see by. "And we're on top of the Eiffel Tower." He turned to look at Sam and Dean, his eyes wide. "How are we on the Eiffel Tower?"

"Loki." The two older brothers turned to the trickster angel.

"Awww, it's so cute when you say things together."

Dean grit his teeth. "Why the hell did you do this?"

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Please, how long were you and your brother going to dance around the kid and his mom and not tell them the truth? Your family has got the worst karma when it comes to the supernatural and you're going to be getting it from both sides. Eventually, he and his mom are going to end up in the middle of it. You need to tell them, or at least him since he's a Winchester, what to expect. It might give them a chance to ride out what's coming."

The expression on Dean's face screamed out the desire to rip Loki's head from his body. "I hate it when you make sense."

Gabriel laughed. "Then you must hate me all the time." Before Dean could use that statement for an easy comeback, Loki clapped his hands together and gave them a rub. "So, who's up for breakfast? No point in wasting the time difference if we don't have to."

And before they could stop him, he snapped his fingers again.

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Cas followed the tracking spell to a non-descript converted warehouse in a slightly run down neighbourhood in Los Angeles. This was a good deal different from the mansion he'd found Balthazar in last time. On the outside at least.

He used a small amount of power to ghost in through the door as a tenant was leaving. Allowing the tracking spell to pull him along he walked up two flights of stairs and down a hallway, stopping at a door about halfway down.

He stared at the door for a moment before doing something very out of character for him.

He knocked.

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The apartment's occupant opened the door. To be honest, there were several reasons why Balthazar was surprised at who was standing on the other side of it. One of those reasons was because even with the last layer of Cas' wards still broken, he hadn't been able to get a read on the other angel. The other reason was that in his experience none of his brothers, or he for that matter, would have bothered to knock.

"Hello Balthazar." Castiel thinned out his shielding so the angel could tell that it was him.

"Cas." The blond angel created and disposed of seven different escape plans in the few seconds that he stared at his old friend.

"I'm just here to talk Balthazar. No one else even knows you're alive." Actually, Castiel wasn't one hundred percent positive his friend had faked his death this time around, but given that he was here and not taking part of the storming of Hell, it was a good bet.

Balthazar hesitated for a moment, and then stepped back to allow Cas to enter.

The insides of the apartment did not match the outsides, but that came as no real surprise to Castiel, not after all of the safe houses he'd set up when he'd first come to this time.

The room was two stories tall. Marble floors ran throughout the space. The main room had a central two-sided fireplace with seating areas on both sides of it. A dining table that could easily seat twelve sat off to the side of that with a kitchen beyond it. Stairs went up both sides from the main floor, leading to a number of bedrooms and bathrooms.

There were a lot of people milling about, Champaign glasses in hand. Cas was familiar enough with his friend that the fact that he was having a party was little more than set dressing for the apartment.

Balthazar grimaced as he looked at all of his party people. "Come on." He gestured to one of the stairways.

He would have taken Cas into the first bedroom they came to, but it and the next were…occupied at the moment. The angel gave a sigh of regret as he turned down invitations from both rooms and herded Castiel into the only empty space on that side of the apartment.

Once they were alone, Castiel looked his friend over. "It is really good to see you Balthazar. I grieved your death." Both deaths in fact. The one he'd believed had happened the first time and the one he would have caused had he gone forward with his plans for purgatory. Even if there was maybe a touch of annoyance at the other angel's betrayal, he could hardly fault him for siding with the Winchesters. Cas would have in the same situation. Had in fact done so when the situation was reversed and he believed that his brothers were following the wrong path.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I figured it was the best way to keep someone from coming to look for me." Balthazar's eyes narrowed slightly. "How did you find me, anyway?"

"You recently purchased a young woman's soul. She prayed to me for help."

"Damn it, she's a pagan, she's not supposed to go praying to angels. It's why I picked her in the first place."

Cas rapidly put together the pieces of the situations from both time lines. "She was a test run, wasn't she? Some how you got hold of one of Heaven's weapons… the Staff of Moses I suspect, and you're seeing if you can use it to build your own power base."

Balthazar shook his head. "The rod of Aaron, actually. It packs pretty much the same punch as the other, but it didn't have the security on it that the staff does. I don't think anyone's actually noticed that it's missing."

"No doubt Virgil is too busy arming the Host to be aware that it's gone." Cas thought a moment. "But you're not planning on leaving it at one weapon, are you?"

"It depends on what kind of opportunity I get. It will take a lot of chaos to allow me access to the weapons a second time." He sighed. "So, what happens now?"

"Now, you free the girl from her deal."

"Oh, hey now…"

"Do this and I will not report you."

Balthazar stared at him for a moment. "Okay…done."

"Thank you."

"You know Cas, you seem different. I mean, I love you dearly, but you're a good soldier and a stickler for the rules. So what gives?"

Castiel thought about it for a moment, and then reached out and took Balthazar's hand, using the physical connection to allow him a better look beneath the wards.

The other angel sucked in a breath. "You're not the Cas from now."

"No," He let go of the hand and sighed. "Father gave me the opportunity to come back and attempt to fix… well, several things. So, if you happen to see me again, especially without the warding, then you should assume that that Castiel will turn you in."

"Father…he's still?"

Cas shook his head. "He has left Heaven and says he's staying out of things, but I happen to know that he's shaping events more than he's letting on."

Balthazar sat down on the bed, rather abruptly. "I should have known."

Cas blinked, a little surprised. "How?"

The blond angel gestured at his friend. "The wards. They're too strong. Dad's the only one who could have set you up with them."

Castiel nodded. "He did the initial creation and imparted the knowledge that would let me maintain and replace them as needed."

"He raised you as well, there's no way you'd have enough power otherwise."

"Yes, although that happened before the time travel was suggested."

Cas sat down next to his friend and brother. "Balthazar, I would always be happy to have your help and advice. Every day I feel that I have committed to more than I can ever possibly manage to…pull off."

Balthazar shook his head. "Cas… I can't."

"I know, but if you should ever change your mind…or, if you ever need my help, then there are a couple of pagan gods you could pray to. They will relay the messages to me." Cas passed him a piece of paper with the names Kaseva and Loki and it. He smiled slightly as he did, he could tell he'd actually shocked his friend.

Castiel rose to leave and then paused. "By the way, have you been keeping up with the news from Heaven?"

"No, why?"

Cas took a deep breath. "Raphael is dead and his assassin is unknown."

"And you think they'll come after me next?"

"No, but the Host is looking for his killer. Don't let them find you if they start searching here on Earth for him."

And with that, Castiel flew off, leaving Balthazar to return to his party, while he himself went to tell a young woman that she was free from her deal.

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"Did you just order ice cream for breakfast?" Sam asked as the waiter walked away, shaking his head.

Gabriel shrugged. "You don't come to this café and not have the ice cream."

Adam looked at the three men he was sitting with, and then out at a Paris street as people walked by on their way to breakfast and work. "You know, if someone doesn't start answering my questions, then I'm going to start an international incident in about ten seconds or so."

"You couldn't wait until after breakfast, could you?" Gabriel asked.

"Who the hell are you?" How the hell did we get here, and can I wake up now?"

"Okay." Sam held his hands up as he tried to stop Adam from going off the deep end. "We will tell you everything. You may not believe most of it, but we'll tell it to you."

Breathing a little erratic from emotion, Adam nodded. "This had better be good."

Dean grimaced. "Sadly, good's got little to do with it."

They waited a moment while the waiter served them their croissants, along with a café au lait each for Sam and Adam and a café noir for Dean. Dean looked like he wanted to bitch about the small size of the cup, but instead he picked it up and took a sip.

"Whoa. Now that'll keep you awake."

Gabriel smirked at the reaction, smiling even wider as the waiter place an ice cream sundae in front of him. The man walked away, still shaking his head.

Dean took another sip of his espresso. "Okay, so, do you want us to start with the how we're in Paris part or do you want us to start at the beginning. Please remember, starting at the beginning will make the Paris part, somewhat more understandable."

Adam sighed. "The beginning."

"Okay." Dean glanced at his brother and then back to Adam. "First off, Dad wasn't just a mechanic. He was also a Hunter."

"Well, yeah. That's how mom and he met. He came into the hospital after an animal got the drop on him."

Dean grimaced. "He wasn't that kind of a hunter."

Gabriel licked the ice cream off his spoon. "Start with your Mom, doofus. All of the hunting stuff happens because of that."

Dean threw him an annoyed look and Sam took up the narrative.

"When Dean was four and I was just six months old, a demon broke into our house." Sam hesitated for a moment before continuing. "He was in my nursery when mom came in, it pinned her to the ceiling and burned her alive."

"Dad grabbed Sam and passed him off to me, sending me outside with him while he tried to save mom, but…" Dean shook his head. "Anyway, Dad started hunting after that, searching for the thing that killed mom, while taking out some of the other things out there that kill and feed on humans." Dean shrugged. "He raised us to do the same."

Adam was shaking his head. "You've got to be kidding me."

Gabriel snorted. "The supernatural is real kid. Magic is real. How do you think we got from Windom, Minnesota to Paris, France when all I did was snap my fingers?"

"So what are you?"

"I'm a trickster." He gave the two Winchesters a significant look. "An old pagan god." He sighed. "Sadly, one of my brothers got involved with these two idiots and now I'm helping them as well."

"Hey."

"Please, we both know that if it wasn't for Cas, I'd let you two stew in your own juices."

Sam glared at him. "You mean, when you aren't torturing us with one of your lessons."

"It's not like you ever manage to learn anything from them."

Now both older brothers were glaring at him.

"Ah, finish your breakfast and I'll take you home. I definitely don't have time to go through the Winchester family history right now."

They finished their coffees and stood. Gabriel dropped enough money on the table to cover the bill.

"Where do you guys get money from, anyway?" Dean asked, still curious about it.

Gabriel just smirked. The sound of him snapping his fingers hadn't even faded from their ears before they found themselves back in the motel room in Windom, minus Gabriel.

Adam flopped down on one of the beds. "Okay, so tell me the rest of it."

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Hours later, Adam let himself into his home, his head spinning with information. He dragged himself upstairs and fell into bed, the exhaustion of the day's events winning out over the mental overload. He fell asleep two items into the mental checklist of things he would need to do the next day. That was alright though, they would still be there in the morning.

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Henricksen sighed as he signed his name to half-truths that were masquerading as his report. Bobby had come back to the hotel with him, and stayed long enough to do the mumbo jumbo with the counterfeit money. A chalked circle, some herbs, a couple of crystals and a touch of fire was all it took. Before he left, he gave Victor the letter he'd lifted off of Mrs. Spars.

Paranoid bastard that he was, Singer had actually managed to not get his fingerprints on the thing.

It was a suicide letter. The ramblings of a dieing woman who believed she had brought her son back to take his revenge. According to the letter, her death wasn't so much suicide, but an attempt to give what she had left of her life force to her son so he could better manifest himself.

Which explained the money golem thing that had come after them.

With a shake of his head, Victor gathered up the file and slipped it into his briefcase. He'd been called back to Quantico.

He wasn't sure, but he had the feeling that a few days from now, he might end up a full time hunter.

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The next morning, Cas appeared in the motel room just as Dean was stepping out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist. Startled by the angel's presence, he grabbed for the towel and cinched it a little tighter. He had a sudden and not very welcome flash back to the other day and the gold lame loincloths.

"Dean…" Castiel hesitated as he noticed the other man's state of undress. "Uh, I'll come back in a few minutes."

"No." Dean said, stopping him. Well familiar with the angel's sense of timing, he'd lay money down on a bet that Cas would just end up coming back at an even more inappropriate moment. "It's fine. Just…turn around while I get dressed."

Cas talked to a wall while Dean slid into his usual jeans and shirts. "Where is Sam?"

"He's getting breakfast, which had better not be croissants."

Cas came close to turning around at that statement.

"You have something against crescent shaped bread?"

"Heh, no, but we had some last night, which was sort of last morning. Ah, you can turn around now."

Cas did and nodded at the sight of a fully dressed Dean. "I am not certain that I am following you."

Dean sighed. "Adam came by to talk. While we were doing that, Loki showed up, said he was bored and teleported up to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Since it was morning there, we ended up going for breakfast."

Cas closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I am sorry."

Dean laughed. "Not your fault. Besides, it actually made it easier to tell Adam the truth, although we still need to warn him about the ghouls."

"You have been unable to track them?"

"Yeah, wherever they are, they aren't here now."

Cas tilted his head in thought. "In the original time line, I believe you didn't find out about this until sometime in mid April of next year. I know it was after you met the prophet, and you didn't find out about him until the beginning of that month."

"Doesn't mean it will run that way this time."

"No, it doesn't."

A knock at the door had Dean frowning slightly. That smoothed out when he found Adam on the other side of it.

"Hey." He stepped back to let his half-brother in.

"Hey." Adam noticed the trench coated angel in the room with them. "Um, if this is a bad time, I can come back later."

Dean shook his head. It seemed to be the morning for people trying to come back later.

"Adam, this is Cas. He's the brother of the guy who zapped us to Paris last night. Cas, this is my half brother, Adam."

Cas nodded at the introduction.

"Ah, so you're a trickster god too?"

Cas gave a slight sigh. "From time to time."

Dean had a slightly evil smirk on his face. "He goes by Kaseva, with a K. You can probably find stuff on line about him, well, him and a Finnish rock band with the same name."

Adam gave his brother a crooked little smile. "So, what was the other guy's name? I know I heard you and Sam say it a couple of times, but I was…freaking out at the time."

"He goes by Loki." Cas told him.

The young man's mouth fell open in shock. "You mean like the Norse god?" He looked from one of them to the other. "Seriously?"

"Yes." Castiel said, before Dean could say anything. "Although he is older than those stories, it is who he became once he decided to leave his original home."

Adam frowned. "So where was that?"

"Uh Cas, before you say anything, I don't think Loki wanted that talked about." Not that Dean really gave a rat's ass what the trickster wanted, but for all he knew, it was something Cas wanted to keep quiet as well.

However, Cas was frowning. "I'll talk to him about that. I suspect it would be best if Adam knew everything… or at least as much as you and Sam do."

"That makes it sound like you're still hiding things."

Cas hesitated before answering. "Not…hiding. It is just that there is so much that happened, even I sometimes forget things."

Dean grimaced. "Like Chuck."

"Yes, like Chuck." He hesitated again. "There are also some things I haven't told you, mostly because I hope the events will never come to pass. You and your brother know more of the future than is usually good for one. Adding to that knowledge could destabilize the balance we are currently holding."

"Okay… but if it's important?"

"I will tell you. I have no desire to keep secrets from you and your brothers. It just causes more trouble in the end."

Adam sat down on one of the unmade beds. "Something tells me that last night's information was just the tip of the ice berg.

"Pretty much." Dean said. "So Cas, are you sticking around?"

The angel shook his head. "No, I still have some items to collect, so that I can make repairs to my personal wards. I just wanted to check up on you."

The sound of Sam coming in with breakfast pulled the brothers' attention to the door. When they turned back, Cas was already gone.

Dean shook his head. "Well, that was almost a goodbye."

"I get the feeling the guy's worse than Batman for that."

Dean looked at his youngest brother and smiled. Not only did the kid keep his head, but he also made superhero references.

"You are so our brother." Sam said, having caught what Adam had just said.

Adam had to smile. "Yeah, looks like."


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 21

Several days worth of mail in hand, Bobby stopped in the kitchen long enough to grab a glass and a bottle of whiskey. He dropped his duffle bag on the couch on the way to the desk. Sitting at it, he poured himself a drink before picking up a letter opener to use on the first envelope.

"You know, you are terribly difficult to shop for."

Bobby knew his priorities. His hand was on the shotgun he kept holstered under the desk even as he looked up toward the 'man' standing at the entrance to the kitchen.

"That's why gift certificates are always a popular choice." He countered.

The man…or more likely, demon, smiled. While appearance didn't mean all that much when it came to something that could change bodies like other people change socks, Bobby had the feeling that the dapper exterior and English accent weren't necessarily being carried over from the poor shmuck that was being possessed.

"Ah, but that doesn't show a lot of thought, in my opinion. Besides, what you want can't be bought at Best Buy."

"And just what is it you think I want?"

"I'm going to guess… your wife. Karen, wasn't it?"

The sound of the shotgun was thunderous in the relatively limited space that made up the main floor of Bobby's house. When the smoke cleared, he had a few more holes peppered into the doorframe of the entrance to the kitchen. The demon had of course, disappeared.

"Balls." Bobby skirted around the desk and headed towards the kitchen.

"A simple, 'No thank you' would have sufficed."

Half way to the kitchen, Bobby spun around and sighted the gun at the demon, who was now standing at the desk and holding up one of the hunter's very rare books as a shield.

"You really think you're the first demon to try and make me that offer?" Bobby asked him.

The guy shrugged. "Seemed worth a try. Of course, I have to admit, it is an expensive gift. Although I would have thought that the ten years you'd have with her would be worth it."

"Who the hell are you?"

"Name's Crowley and I'm the person that can get you anything you want, for the right price."

Bobby rolled his eyes.

"How about a slightly less expensive present then? If I can't get you your wife…then maybe you would like the demon that possessed her. You could spend a little quality time with him…or her, not sure at the moment, but I can find them for you."

"And what makes that less expensive?"

"Well, I wouldn't charge a soul for it." He gave a little shrug. "Just some information."

"Such as?"

"The whereabouts of one Sam Winchester."

Bobby unloaded his second shot at the demon. The little bastard was fast though. He disappeared and the book got it. As he reloaded, Bobby took a fleeting moment to hope that the metal fittings on the cover had absorbed most of the rock salt and iron ball mix.

"I can see that you need some time to think it over."

The demon was back in the kitchen. The hunter was starting to feel like the net in a tennis match as he turned towards him. The demon smirked at him.

"I'll get back to you once you have."

Bobby lowered his gun when he found it trained on empty air.

"Damn it."

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Crowley dropped into the chair behind his desk. He looked over at the young woman who had been waiting for him to return to his offices in Hell.

"Fine, you where right. The direct approach was a magnificent failure."

Bela smiled wryly. "I told you so."

Crowley glared at her, but there wasn't much heat behind it. "I suppose I'll just have to go with plan B. Get him possessed and wait for Winchester to contact him."

Bela froze. Crowley came close to wincing, managing to make it look like he'd narrowed his eyes at her instead. The expression on her face was the same as the one she'd had when he told her the first plan.

"What?"

"Sorry, but… I would have to be beyond desperate to mess directly with Bobby. I've seen others try. Human, monster, demon, it never ended well for them."

"Then what do you suggest?"

"Watch him. Sam will get in contact with him eventually. Also, Bobby might have gotten hold of him as soon as you left. Well, knowing Bobby, he probably relayed the message through someone else, but it would get you one step closer if it were traceable. You've got the magic to try and if that doesn't work, I can get you the connections on Earth to try it from a tech angle."

Crowley snorted. "I already tried that, both ways. Believe me, my connections are vast compared to yours. He must have figured out how you found the Winchesters before, because none of his phone lines are traceable through any means. Whatever he did, he used magic, but it affects tech as well. I think he must have had someone come in and do the work. I doubt he could have pulled it off himself."

Bela shook her head, but kept quiet. Crowley wasn't listening to her. If he had been, he wouldn't be underestimating Bobby.

Her lips curled up into a smile, because that just meant that when Bobby took him out, it wouldn't be her fault at all.

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"Ghouls want to kill me and mom as revenge against Dad."

"Yep."

Adam look vaguely nauseous, which meant he was taking it better than Dean thought he would.

"This is that future stuff your friend was talking about, isn't it?"

Dean nodded. "We've been looking for them, but Cas says that originally they didn't come after you until next April. There's no way we can hang around that long, and you're starting University in the fall…'

"I'll drop out.'

"No!" The two older Winchesters almost yelled the word out.

"No." Sam continued. "You can't lose a whole year. We have friends keeping an eye out for these guys, and before we leave, we're going to monster and demon proof your house.

"Demon? Like the one who…?"

"Yeah, we'll go over that too." Dean told him. Look, we'll check in with your mom regularly and we'll keep an eye out for anything weird happening around here or close to here." He hesitated for a moment, not wanting to bring the kid into even this much hunting. "We need you to do the same. Don't over do it though. Getting through your first year of University will be bad enough without adding this to it."

Adam shook his head. "I can't. Dean, Sam…I cannot leave my mother in danger like this."

"We're willing to tell her the truth. Make sure she knows what to watch for. The question is, do you think she'll believe us?" Dean asked him.

Adam thought about it for a moment. "Guess that depends. Is there anyway we can get another demonstration? It's kind of hard to disbelieve when a demigod zaps you to the other side of the planet."

Sam and Dean looked at each other. Dean shrugged. "Won't hurt to try."

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Henricksen sighed as he picked up the next file. He was officially on desk duty until his partner could return, or he was assigned a new one. From the looks of things, the second choice wasn't an option and it would be weeks before Dawson would be released from the hospital and even then, it would be months before he was well enough to return to active duty. All of that would have been fine, but…

He was being watched.

It was his top reason for putting up with the paperwork when everything in him said to just ditch the bureau and head into hunting full time. If he had been a little more seasoned when it came to hunting monsters, supernatural ones anyway, then he would have done just that and screw whatever games were being played here. However, he knew he still had a lot to learn.

He'd talked to Bobby since coming back to Washington and the man was sending him a care package. Basically a starter kit for the aspiring hunter. Mostly books and contacts, which made it a little too much like the paperwork he was already doing, but Henricksen wasn't stupid. He was the rookie in this. The probie. FBI training didn't cover demon exorcisms, ghosts, werewolves or how to deal with pagan gods. And it certainly hadn't trained him to find cases that involved them. Before he attempted even the simplest hunt on his own, he had to do his homework. So for once, it was probably just as well that he was grounded as far as work went.

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Cas looked at the items he'd collected for the ward spell and pushed them aside. For some odd reason, he felt uncomfortable with the thought of it being back in place. He couldn't come up with a reason for it, and he really wasn't one to get 'gut' feelings, but for now, he would let it be.

The ringing of his phone was a welcome distraction. He checked the caller and flipped it open.

"Hello Dean."

"Hey Cas, you wouldn't happen to be busy tonight, would you?"

Castiel looked at the spell components again, and then shook his head. "No, I am not doing anything. Why?"

"Because, we want to tell Adam's mom what's going on."

"And you would like me to provide proof, when she doesn't believe you."

Dean laughed. "Yeah. Figure it's safer than having Loki pop up again."

"That would be unlikely. He said he had something to do and would be gone for a time." Cas listened to the silence on the other end of the line.

"Wow, I just realized that I'm not unhappy that he's gone, but I am terrified that I have no idea what he might be up to."

"He did promise to keep the mayhem to a minimum."

"Somehow, I don't find that comforting."

"I did not believe you would."

"So?" Dean asked, drawing the word out.

"Yes. Call me should you need the demonstration."

"Will do."

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Dean stared at the lake they had appeared next to, wondering why Cas had chosen this place to zap them too. The conversation with Kate Milligan had gone as badly as they'd expected and they'd had to call Castiel in to prove that the impossible was real.

He glanced over at Adam's mom and noticed that she and everyone else in the group were not looking at the lake. Instead, they were staring at something above it. He turned to look at it himself and blinked at what he saw.

"Mount Fuji?"

"You said I should choose someplace recognizable." Cas replied.

"Mom!" Adam latched onto Kate before she could hit the ground. He looked from his brothers to the angel. "Um, I think we need to go home."

Cas nodded and before they could take another breath, they were back in the Milligan's living room. Adam helped his mother to the couch so she could sit down.

"That isn't possible." She said as she stared at nothing.

Dean shook his head. "Hey, we can always do it again. I wouldn't mind another coffee from that café in Paris."

"Mom?"

Kate worked on her breathing. Passing out would probably be a relief, but she didn't have time for it right now.

"Ms. Milligan." Sam crouched down next to her. "I know this is a lot to take in, but we only want to keep you and Adam safe, so you need to know about this stuff."

"About ghouls, and what John really hunted? What you hunt?" She wanted to laugh in his face, but even without the sudden trip to Japan and back, what they'd told her answered a lot of questions about Adam's father. Questions she'd stopped asking herself a long time ago. Although to be truthful, she'd always expected to find out that he was a mercenary soldier of fortune type, not… this.

She heard something that sounded like wings fluttering and realized that they guy they'd called who had… her mind skipped over what had just happened and went back to noticing that the guy had simply appeared in front of her and was holding out a glass of water.

She took it, carefully. "Thank you."

He nodded and stepped back.

She sipped at the water, surprised at how badly she needed it. Adam sat down beside her. "Mom, look, they don't think anything's going to happen until about April, but they're not sure. I can do University next year. I'll stay here, get a job for the year and…

"No." The expression on her face was horrified. "Absolutely not. You've worked too hard to get into Wisconsin University. There is no way you're throwing that away."

"It would only be for a year."

"No."

"Your mom's right Adam." Sam straightened. "Staying won't really help anyway. We'll show you and your mom what to watch for, but you can do most of yours over the internet. We'll be keeping an eye on Windom the same way."

Adam's expression was pissed. "And what if that isn't enough?"

"I have a warning system in place."

Everyone in the room turned to look at Cas. He took the expressions on their faces as a question. "I set it up when I realized that Adam and his mother would be in danger. If anything supernatural comes within twenty miles of Windom, I will know that they are here. Should that happen I will try to be here myself. Even if I cannot, I will relay the information to Sam and Dean."

Kate took a deep breath. "Would you be able to do the same for where Adam will be going to school?"

Cas nodded. "I had planned to, anyway."

"Okay then." Dean said. "Problem solved, for now anyway. With any luck, we may be able to find these guys before they even get here."

Adam didn't look very happy, but it was obvious that he knew he wasn't going to win this argument.

Dean smirked at him. "Cheer up kid, you get to help us monster proof this house. And what you learn here, you make sure you use at school. If something tries to sneak up on you, it had better not be able to just walk right into your place, got it?"

Adam nodded. "Got it."

"Okay, first lesson. Salt is your friend…"

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Dean tossed the last duffle bag into the Impala's trunk before slamming the lid shut. He turned around and held out a hand to his half brother. Adam clasped it and they shook. Sam offered his as well and the action was repeated.

"Watch you back, and we'll be checking in with you and your mom once a week, got it?" Dean said as he moved to the driver's side door of the car.

Adam rolled his eyes, he'd already heard it several times, and that was only since last night. "Yes mother."

"Wise ass."

Sam smiled at the two of them as he got into the passenger side of the car. "We'll try to make it back in time to help you move."

Adam smiled. "Don't suppose you could get one of your friends to just zap the stuff over there?"

Sam and Dean both snorted. "Good luck with that." The oldest Winchester said before getting behind the steering wheel. The Impala started with a growl and both men gave their younger brother a final wave before Dean put it into gear and started to drive away. Adam returned the wave before getting into his truck to head home. He had just enough time to double check the house's new 'security' before he'd have to head off to work himself.

It was going to be a long time until next April.

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Bobby glared out at the salvage yard. Someone was out there, watching him. Had been ever since that smarmy demon had shown up and tried to make a deal. Since he knew that his communications were secure, he'd managed to relay a message to Sam and Dean through Ellen. Sam had e-mailed back about it, but the boys had been busy with their newly found half brother and hadn't had much to say. Now, they were off on a demon hunt. With any luck, they could pump the thing for information. They sorely needed anything they could find out about this guy.

He should probably get them to ask the angel about it too. See if he'd ever heard of this Crowley guy or not.

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Cas looked up at the cool white adobe walls and wood beamed ceilings of the safe house in Fort Worth, Texas. He had decided to avoid the cabin and the neighbour that came with it and was working out of a Spanish Colonial style home that was hidden in an abandoned warehouse and warded against discovery and break in.

Right now, he was working on the spell that would cover Adam when he went to school. Mostly, he was trying to get it to identify when the supernatural presence it was recording was actually Sam or Dean, as they both had enough juice to set off the alarm system he had in place in Windom.

Interspersed with his work was a growing annoyance with what Dean considered a proper way to dedicate a hunt to a pagan god. Cas considered the man's ability to pray to be, uneven at best. However, while his dedications did work, they were all equally abysmal in execution.

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"I dedicate this hunt to Kaseva. May his feathery butt know power, glory and a lack of moulting. Ow."

Rubbing his head slightly, Dean looked over at the fuming angel that had suddenly appeared and swatted him upside the head.

"What was that for?"

Sam, who was standing by the Impala, snorted, shook his head and then started to dig their supplies out the car's trunk.

"Dean." Cas said, still glowering. "Has it ever occurred to you that dedicating something to a god should actually be done with some respect?"

"Well, yeah."

"Really, so what exactly is respectful about feathery butt?"

"Ah well… I'm sure it's a very nice feathery butt." Dean frowned. Did Sam just groan?

Turned out he didn't have any time to answer that as he found himself pressed up against the side of the Impala a couple of seconds later. Swallowing hard at the expression on the angel's face, Dean firmly reminded himself that Cas could be damn scary at times. It was something he'd kind of forgotten since not going to Hell.

"Sorry." The apology was short, but heartfelt.

Castiel glared at him for another second, and then let him go, nodding as he did. "Dean… I understand that being my chosen warrior is uncomfortable for you."

Dean jerked slightly at the term, chosen warrior. "Well, if it wasn't, it would be now."

Cas frowned, but didn't ask. At least, not that question.

"Do you wish me to release you from this service?"

It was on the tip of Dean's tongue to say yes. Hell, he'd thought about asking Cas to sever the connection more than once, but every time it felt like the wrong thing to do. As the feeling persisted, he shook his head. "No. You're right, I am uncomfortable about it, 'cause I'm no good at it. I'm not someone you should depend upon to be your…champion, or whatever it is I'm supposed to be."

"Believe me Dean, you are more than qualified. Just simplify the dedication. The first sentence that you said, where you dedicated the hunt to me is all you need say."

Dean let out a breath and nodded. "Okay, I can do that."

"And Dean, no matter how tempted you may be, please, no more dedicating your efforts at trying to find someone to sleep with you."

"Well… It's sort of like hunting."

Sam slammed the Impala's trunk shut and sent his brother a glare and a headshake.

Dean shrugged at the look. "Okay, okay. Monster and demon hunts only, I promise."

"Thank you."

Dean frowned as Cas disappeared, wondering why it was he could never manage to see the exact moment that it happened. Even when he thought he had his eyes glued to the angel, something would make him glance in another direction for just a split second.

And that was all the time the angel needed.

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After that, Cas went back to his spell work and Dean's dedications became straightforward. They also became dull and the angel was surprised to find that he missed the less respectful pledges. Of course, this was something he did not plan to reveal to the hunter. He'd never hear the end of it if he did.

When working on alarm system for Adam and Kate tested even his patience, he started making changes to the Kaseva disguise that Gabriel had created for him. Given the reaction his 'followers' had to it, it was a little over the top. He decided to keep the original look to use for special occasions, but added a second layer that he could switch to that he hoped would be less uncomfortable for the petitioner, while still keeping his own identity safe.

Several weeks of work later, he had a viable costume. However, he hadn't gotten much further with the alarm system. The best he'd been able to do was have it relay the type of creature, along with the identity of any beings that he knew personally. This way, even if Sam and Dean, or Gabriel, for that matter, set the alarm off, he'd at least know who it was. He'd concluded that anything he did that would alter it so that Sam and Dean wouldn't keep setting it off would have the effect of possibly excluding creatures of a like level of power. Sadly, the same went for himself and other angels. True, he could have taken the easy way by turning it off when he was there, but Winchester luck almost guaranteed that that would be when something would sneak into town and try to gut Adam and his mom.

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Cheers could be heard up and down the line as the Host finally fought its way through the latest block to reaching the Pit. As the spell cracked and broke under the weight of their assault on it, one angel reached out with his senses, ever hoping and searching for the righteous man.

Even though the others had told him repeatedly that his presence was somehow blocked, the angel was certain that he had felt him. Each time he'd thought he'd caught a whisper of him; the situation hadn't allowed him the opportunity to attempt to trace it. The first time it had happened, had been during the initial storming of Hell. The last, while he'd been time slowed to the point where it had taken ten years (Hell time) just to move five hundred metres. There had been nothing he could do about it. Now freed from that spell, and determined not to miss another chance, he would follow this feeling, no matter where it might lead.

In the end, Dean Winchester would be saved.


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 22

He'd been helping Sam do a lot of demon hunts. And yes, he knew it wasn't the brightest thing he'd ever done. All it would take was one demon seeing him with Sam, and Hell would know that Dean had booked his summer vacation elsewhere.

As such, it had to happen sometime. Dean would have been happy with later, but this one was a special case. This demon and a couple of its friends had spent the last few weeks shadowing Bobby. The friends had ended up on the wrong end of Ruby's knife and except for disposing of the bodies were no longer a problem. True, it would be better for Dean if the third demon had gone the same way. However, the other deaths had been unavoidable, this guy they might still be able to save.

Provided they didn't kill the thing possessing him for the crime of being highly annoying first.

"Oh, Dean, Dean, Dean. You can not imagine how many of us are looking for you."

The elder Winchester snorted. "Yeah, but are any of you looking in the right place?"

The demon growled and started to fight against his bonds. The chair he was tied to creaked ominously, but held together. The body he'd possessed had a fair bit of muscle, but it was hard earned, as if he worked a physical job and for the most part, liked it. Lack of a beer gut showed that if he did kick back with a six-pack after work it was only occasionally. He was probably a basic, steady guy with a wife and kids that were worried about him, assuming the thing in him hadn't killed them when it first took control.

Dean grimaced at the thought, and then looked over to his brother and Bobby. "You guys about ready?"

"Hold your water." Bobby replied as he flipped through the book he was consulting.

Sam had been experimenting with a few different exorcisms over the summer. Technically, some were more powerful than others, but a lot of the time, it seemed to be more about matching the right ritual to the right demon than about brute force. The one he and Bobby were currently going over was geared more to interrogation than eviction. They still didn't know why the crossroads demon the guy was working for was so hot to find Sam and they hoped to pick his brain about it before kicking him out. Besides, they needed to get something in exchange for giving up the information that Dean was alive and on Earth.

They had of course asked Cas about Crowley. He'd been very reluctant to talk about him. Eventually he'd told them that the demon had sided with them during the 'apocalypse that would hopefully never happen now. ' However, he had added that Crowley managed to use that to take over Hell after Lucifer was defeated, along with the fact that, by and large, the demon was a complete and utter bastard and had done his best to kill them when they'd gotten in his way.

Both brothers got the distinct impression that Cas knew a lot more about Crowley, but they were willing to believe that it fell under the 'more of the future than they really ought to know about' thing the angel had once talked about.

The demon in the chair tried to use his powers to break his bonds, but the devil's trap painted onto the floor of Bobby's living room sucked the energy away before it could even properly form. He eyed Bobby as the older man walked the edge of the circle, double-checking that it was intact before they began.

"You know Singer, you could have just about anything you'd ever wanted if you'd just asked. Money, power…the return of your loved ones. My boss would be so happy to see both of the Winchesters that it probably wouldn't even cost you your soul."

Bobby snorted. "That's your opinion and it's a poor one." He looked over at Sam. "Let's get this over with."

Sam brought the book to the edge of the trap. He skimmed over the passage he was planning to read one more time, and then open his mouth to start.

The sound of static filled the air.

Everyone froze and the three hunters and one demon looked at each other questioningly. Following the noise, Bobby walked into the kitchen and frowned at the crappy TV he kept in there, that for some reason had suddenly decided to come on. Reaching a hand out, he hit the off button, turning the set dark and silent. He looked back at the boys and shrugged.

He had moved two steps into the room with them, when it turned itself on again. All of them, demon included, started to wince as a high-pitched whine added itself to the static.

Then the noise turned itself up to eleven.

Driven to their knees with their hands over their ears, all three hunters dropped flat to the floor and scrunched their eyes closed, seconds before the windows over the couch shattered, tossing glass everywhere.

Dean looked up and then ducked once more as the TV in the kitchen blew up. They stayed down until the sound faded away.

Glass shifting as they moved, all three of them carefully stood up. Dean glanced over to the demon still tied to the chair and backed up a step.

"Holy…"

Sam and Bobby looked in the same direction, their reactions similar to Deans as they saw what had happened to the demon. Empty eye sockets stared out of a face covered in blood. From the blood running down the sides of his face, it was obvious that his eardrums had also been blown.

"Oh, man. No offence dude, but I really hope you're dead." Dean said as he took in the damage.

Demon killing knife in hand, Sam carefully stepped into the circle and reached out a hand, searching for a pulse. He relaxed and stepped back. "Yeah, he's dead."

Bobby looked around at his house. "What the hell was that?"

Both brothers shrugged. "No clue." Dean said. "Of course, I know someone who might."

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Cas checked over the dead body as Dean told him what had happened.

"So, you got any idea what this was? Demon, monster, little green men?"

Castiel shook his head. "Angel."

Dean's brain stopped so fast it almost left skid marks. "Come again."

"Angel. Aside from a few special individuals, our true forms and voices are too much for a person to take. The only time you were able to see me and do so without harm, was when the contract was coming due and you were piercing the veil."

"And if I hadn't been?"

"You would have ended up like…him." Cas nodded towards the eyeless body."

"Okay, so what's an angel doing paying us a visit?"

"I don't know. Assuming you still have those bags I gave you, they shouldn't be able to find you at…oh."

Dean's eyebrows rose. "Oh?"

"There is one angel that would be able to find you, despite the warding."

Dean frowned. "Who, Loki?"

Cas shook his head. "No, me."

Dean looked confused.

"The me from this time."

"Oh…" The eyebrows went up again. "Oh!"

"Yes."

Dean's expression was pained. "It's not going to go well, is it?"

"No. I never expected it would." He thought for a moment. "I should check on Jimmy."

"Your vessel?" Dean asked, taking a step back as he found himself talking to thin air. Shaking his head, he went to help Sam and Bobby deal with the bodies.

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Amelia knew something was going on. For weeks now, Jimmy had been jumping at shadows and starting at every little noise. It was so bad that their daughter, Claire had noticed it and had started acting in a similar manner. Every time she tried to bring the problem up with him, he evaded. It was getting to the point where she was going to insist that he saw a doctor. If not for himself, then at least for Claire's sake.

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Castiel appeared in the Novak's home, standing over the unconscious form of Jimmy Novak and said something in Enochian that would have caused half of the Host to pass out in horror. Even Gabriel would have been taken aback by it.

"Jimmy." He crouched down and gave the man a shake. While Novak was capable of seeing and hearing Castiel in his natural form, the angel had still needed to be careful with the volume of his voice when speaking with his vessel. Something he remembered he had not been the first time he'd come to him.

Novak jerked back into consciousness. "Ow." When he realized who was crouched over him, he scrambled away from him. "What? What happened?"

Castiel stood up and offered Jimmy his hand. "I believe that the me from now tried to speak with you."

Jimmy looked at the hand for a moment and then reached out and took it, allowing Castiel to pull him to his feet. "Yeah. I…I think I said no." He looked around. "He's not still here, is he?"

Cas glanced upward and frowned slightly. "No." If he had been, it would have saved him a lot of trouble. Now that he knew about Dean, the sooner he could speak with himself, the better.

"Jimmy, we…" Amelia charged into the room blindly, her mouth falling open as she took in the sight of two Jimmy Novaks. Cas could only blame his distraction for not noticing that the woman was approaching.

"Wha…" Eyes and mouth wide, she stared at them, her brain sputtering like a cold engine that didn't want to start.

Jimmy didn't look like he was doing any better as he looked from his wife to his doppelganger.

"Ah, Amelia…" Nope, he had no idea what to say.

Castiel gave him a look and then turned to Novak's wife. "It is nice to finally meet you. My name is Cas, I am…" He paused for a moment as he realized what he needed to do in this situation.

Lie.

"I am Jimmy's twin brother."

Okay, so it wasn't a very good lie.

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Inner vessel Jimmy winced at the lie and then went back to simply looking at his wife. He knew he shouldn't torture himself this way, but it was very likely that this would be the last time he'd ever see her again and this chance was more than he'd expected to get.

Current Jimmy also winced, he wasn't very comfortable with lying to Amelia, but he didn't see an alternative. "I uh…I only found out about him a few weeks ago."

He was surprised when Amelia seemed to slump, like some great weight had been lifted from her.

"He's why you've been so…"

Jimmy pulled in a breath of air through his teeth. "Yeah." He glanced at Castiel briefly. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but… I've been trying to wrap my head around this since I found out."

"Okay, we'll have words about that later. Right now, I'm going to make some coffee. We'll sit down, talk, and you're going to tell me everything." She pointed at both of them as she said that.

Man and angel nodded.

"Good." She headed into the kitchen to start the coffee maker.

Jimmy turned to Cas. "Is there any way that you can forge official documents that will show we were somehow split up at birth?"

"Actually…yes." Between his ability to manifest items and the lessons Dean had felt compelled to pass on about how to forge ID, he was confident he could pull off something that would convince Amelia Novak that Jimmy had a long lost twin brother.

"In the next five minutes?" Jimmy asked.

Actually, it wouldn't even take him five seconds. However, he simply nodded yes to the question.

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Crowley tapped the edge of the blood-filled chalice and frowned. The team he had watching Bobby Singer should have checked in by now. While he'd believe that the hunter might be able to take one of them out, all three ought to be impossible.

Unless of course, he had help. Say, Sam Winchester's help.

"Bela." His 'assistant' poked her head into his office. "Get me a three man team and have them meet me at Singer Salvage."

She raised an eyebrow at the order, but didn't say anything. Crowley disappeared out of Hell, using his own personal exit. He reappeared in South Dakota, a discrete distance away from Bobby Singer's place of business.

The sound of a backhoe drifted to him in the quiet air. Apparently, Mr. Singer was digging something up.

Or burying it.

Briefly, he considered bringing in the authorities. Given the number of demons and monsters that the hunter had dealt with over the years, there were probably enough bodies buried in the salvage yard to make Robert Singer look like one of America's most notorious serial killers.

The idea had merit, but once it was set in motion it would probably make Winchester harder to find, and that made it counter productive.

The three man, or rathe demon, team arrived. Unlike the team he'd had stationed here, these guys were more brawn than brain, but they'd do.

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It happened so fast they barely had the chance to blink, much less retaliate.

One moment Sam and Dean were raking gravel over the last grave while Bobby made plans to move some of his stock around so that the spot would be under three crushed cars by morning, the next; they were discovering how effective demon fighting was with garden tools.

Not very, as it turned out.

Head locked, Bobby and Sam were manhandled into the middle of the yard. Dean had managed to slip the initial grapple and his demon was still trying to deal with him.

"Well now, looks like she was right, you did show up eventually."

Sam stopped struggling and looked at the 'man' in front of him. "You must be Crowley."

The demon smiled. "As advertised."

"What do you want?"

"Everything you know about your brother's deal and where you buried his body." Crowley gave his third minion an idle glance as he dragged the last hunter into the line up. He turned back to Sam to continue his questioning and froze. Pivoting, he moved back to face the third man. "Dean Winchester, fancy meeting you here."

Normally Dean would have had something nice and snarky to use as a rejoinder, but right now, he was fresh out.

Crowley moved in a little closer and Dean tried to lean away from him. "So, we've got angels and demons tearing up Hell looking for you, and you've been here the whole time."

"Well, not the whole time." Of course, by that, he meant he hadn't been at Bobby's place the whole time. However, Crowley took it another way.

The crossroads demon stepped back and looked Dean over. "How did you get out of Hell, then?"

What Dean would have said next would have been snarky and a half, but he didn't get the chance. All over the yard, anything metal that was not tied down started to vibrate. Crowley backed up another step, suspecting some kind of trap.

A high-pitched whine weaved its way into the noise.

"Oh crap." Dean winced, but given the hold he was in was unable to cover his ears.

Crowley's hands went up to his own ears. Shocked at the wetness he felt he pulled one of his hands away and looked at it, surprised to find it covered in blood. "What the Hell is that?"

Dean laughed and actually went for the straight answer. "An angel." He yelled over the noise.

"What?"

"Well, you did ask why I wasn't in Hell." Technically, it was true. An angel was why he wasn't in Hell. Heck, it was even the same angel, if a younger version of the one he knew.

The demon said something rude, but Dean couldn't tell what it was over the noise. With a gesture, Crowley dismissed his henchmen and then disappeared himself. The three hunters slapped their hands over their ears and fought to stay standing. They gave up and dropped to their knees as the headlights in the cars closest to them suddenly exploded.

And then, it just stopped.

Sore, their heads ringing from the sound, all three men collapsed flat on their backs and stared up at the sky. Groaning, Dean laid his arm over his eyes as the sight of endless blue was making him dizzy.

"At this point I don't know if I want to kiss newbie Cas or kick his ass."

Bobby and Sam both groaned in agreement. It would take them several long minutes before they would be able to stand and stagger back to the house.

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Cas escaped from the Novaks two hours and many explanations later. When he arrived back at Bobby's place, all three men threw him glares that could have frozen water.

"I take it I missed something while I was gone?"

This was when Castiel learned that one should be careful about asking leading questions.

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Claire Novak woke out of a light sleep to witness the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. She knew without asking that this was the angel that her father had spoken to her about.

He'd asked her to say no to him. This surprised her, because if there was anyone she thought would expect her to do God's work, it was her dad. However, he explained to her how much her absence in their lives would hurt them. He also told her that an angel of the Lord had spoken with him, telling him that everything would be alright if they did say no.

Claire was a good girl, normally she did as her parents asked. But as soon as she saw him, she knew her answer would be yes.


	23. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 23

Dean poked at a couple of tapestries that hung on the walls of the safe house in Fort Worth. He glanced over at Sam and Bobby, who were looking through the small, but apparently useful library that Cas had stored here.

The angel himself was busy. The first thing he'd done when they'd arrived was to make up several more 'hex' bags for blocking angel and demon radar. He stuffed one of them into the pocket of his coat, held in a sort of stasis, for emergencies. He then gave one to Bobby and another one to Dean, to use in the Impala. It would hide anyone in the car, as well as giving the vehicle a subtle 'ignore me, I'm not the Impala you're looking for' vibe. Those finished, he started to work on safety measures for when his younger self showed up. He'd chosen to attempt a confrontation in this place, because he needed to at least try to speak with himself and he needed to do it without Heaven listening in. Of course, this assumed that Now Castiel would come alone and didn't have the Host following along right behind him.

That's why one of the safety measures would zap Cas out of there if needed. As for the three hunters, he intended to send them back to Bobby's place shortly. They wouldn't be decidedly unhappy about it, but he didn't want to risk having their eyes burned out by the angel's unguarded grace.

He wouldn't have had them there at all if Dean's presence wasn't required for the moment, as he was who the angel was trying to communicate with. In a way he was bait, as the Castiel from this time was the only angel, other than himself, who would be able to both sense Dean and be able to find him through the safe house's wards.

The aforementioned bait came up beside Cas and looked over the spell he was setting.

"So, are we just hoping that you'll show up, or are we going to try to summon you?"

Cas paused in thought. A summoning would be more certain, but he wasn't sure what casting a spell that would pull in both of them would do. To be honest, he suspected that it wouldn't be a problem, but now was not the time to be proved wrong about something like that.

We will..." Cas frowned and Dean felt… something. It was as if a wave front of static electricity passed through him.

"You're almost here, aren't you?"

"Yes." Cas tilted his head, and then he frowned deeper, perplexed. "I will have to send…" The angel paused mid-sentence and blinked. "I've taken a vessel."

Dean did not look happy about that, and he would have said something, but he noticed that Cas didn't look any happier about it than he did.

Bobby and Sam joined them and Cas had a moment to debate if he should send them to safety, when the problem became moot.

The door to the safe house blew open, and a young girl, about twelve years old, walked in. She was blonde and thankfully didn't have the creepy presence that Lilith had in a similar body, but Dean still found her disturbing. Her expression was far too unemotional for the situation. He turned to speak with Castiel and jerked back slightly as he noticed that the angel appeared to be in pain.

"Cas?"

Castiel winced. It wasn't technically physical pain he was feeling, and it wasn't exactly his own. Instead it was emotional pain, and it mostly belonged to Jimmy.

'You promised me. After the second time you promised me you would see them safe and that you would never again take her.'

"Cas, why is your younger self wearing a kid?" Sam asked. As if to match his brother, he didn't sound very happy either.

Castiel actually grit his teeth against Jimmy's pain. 'I will fix this.' The thought wasn't enough to stop his vessel's anguish, but it did give the angel the breathing room to try to do what he'd just promised.

"She is Claire Novak, my vessel's daughter." Cas said, shifting mental tracks to answer Sam's question. "She should not have said yes. I know for a fact that her father spoke to her about me and asked her not to."

"She is with me and made the choice of her own free will." Claire/Castiel said. "Who are you, that you have taken her father?"

Cas sighed. "I'm you…dumb butt."

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Dean didn't know if he should be shocked or laugh his ass off. One look at the perplexed expression on the little girls face decided it.

Spluttering and choking, Dean tried to hold it in, but after a few seconds of that he gave up and simply dissolved into helpless laughter.

"Dean." His brother was clearly annoyed with him. "Now isn't the time."

Dean took a deep breath and steadied himself. "I'd like to say otherwise…" He looked at the little girl. "But you're right."

The girl seemed to hesitate for a moment, looking between the being wearing Jimmy Novak and the man for whom the angel had been searching. Her eyes centred on the man. "Dean Winchester, the Host has been searching Hell for you. I have been commanded to the task of finding and raising you." She hesitated again and turned to Castiel. "What do you mean, you are me?"

Dean backed up slightly as a staring contest broke out between Castiel and Castiel. The hunter had the distinct feeling that stepping in between that could get him fried.

The girl blinked first. "You are me, but from another time."

Cas nodded.

"Why are you here?"

"That is…complicated." Cas looked at her. "Will you permit?"

Castiel stared at him for a few moments longer and then gave him one sharp nod. Cas crossed the space between them and leaned down slightly, placing his forehead up against the girl's and closing his eyes.

Sam, Dean and Bobby all exchanged looks as this was occurring. Almost as one, the three of them shrugged and turned back to watch the angels.

The girl pulled away from Cas, her eyes wide with shock and horror. It was the most emotion they'd seen on her face since she'd arrived.

"You…we…how…how could we…?"

Cas sighed. "I do not believe you could understand it without living it." He glanced at Dean for a moment. "Hopefully you won't have to, as the first seal is still intact and Lilith is dead."

Younger Castiel visibly pulled herself together. "You…we… I…I defied Heaven and worked against God's plan."

Cas smiled slightly. "Heaven wasn't acting very heavenly and it was a plan our Father no longer had any liking for.

She narrowed her eyes. "And what of what happened after."

Cas closed his eyes for a moment. "We were given freedom. It was time for us to grow up and make our own decisions. Sadly, they were not always the right ones. At least I knew enough seek help, although I wish I had asked my friends sooner rather than let it become so bad that I had to go to Father. If he had not answered…" Cas shook his head and decided that it simply didn't bear thinking about.

Castiel shook her head. "I… I have to report this. Report what you have done… What I would have done…" Her voice tapered off as she worked to sort through her new memories.

"Uh, why do I get the feeling that that would be a bad thing?" Dean asked.

The female version of Castiel looked at him, tilting her head as she studied him. The version of Cas they were used to simply winced. "Because it will be." He answered Dean's question, even though he suspected that it was rhetorical. "Although by this point, I believe that there is little they can do about it."

Cas focused on his now self and sighed. He asked Jimmy a question, nodding when he received his answer. "Castiel, I realize that you will do as you must, however… I did promise my vessel that I would never again ask his daughter to serve. While I realize that she a strong vessel, if you were to gain some of the powers I now possess, you would burn her out in a matter of months."

Behind him, he could feel Dean and Sam straighten to attention.

Female Castiel frowned. "Her father has already said no."

"Her father from this time line has. However, the Jimmy Novak that is currently my vessel is willing to say yes to you."

"Whoa, Cas." Dean took a step towards them. "If she trades up, then what happens to you?"

"I will leave. " He smiled slightly at the concerned expression on Dean's face. "I have spent millennium without a vessel. I assure you, it is not a hardship."

"But, you won't be able to do anything here on Earth."

"No, I will not." He would be of limited help as a waveform of celestial intent, but he wasn't useless. He would do what he could for them while avoiding his brothers. Besides, having two of him on Earth would make things complicated. His decision made, he turned to himself, obviously waiting for an answer.

Castiel hesitated. "I…" She shook her head. "I need to think. These memories…I …I need to make sense of them." She stepped back from them. "I will return within an hour."

She was gone before anyone could stop her.

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"So, any one want to place bets on the likelihood that that Castiel will be back with Heaven's version of 5-0?" Dean asked.

Bobby and Sam both snorted. Cas narrowed his eyes for a moment as he tried to figure out what 5-0 meant. He dismissed the problem a moment later. He didn't get the reference, but he understood the gist of it.

"It is likely. I was always a good little soldier."

Dean gave him a wry look. "So what happened?"

Cas had just the smallest of smiles on his face as he answered. "I met you."

Sam choked a bit, obviously fighting off a laugh. Bobby just shook his head.

Dean tossed both of them an annoyed look, and then chose to ignore them. "Okay, so what are we going to do…?" He broke off as Castiel placed his hand on his shoulder and he, Sam and Bobby found themselves back at Bobby's place."

"I will deal with it." Cas said. He disappeared the next moment.

"Wait!" Dean made an annoyed sound. "Damn it Cas, get your feathery ass back here. You don't have to face this on your own."

Dean looked around, but Cas was still gone.

"Nice try, but I don't think he's listening Dean."

"Son of a bitch."

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Clarestiel sorted the memories, studying them from all angles. Pulling them apart in a way that would have been vicious had they been living things. So many wrong choices. So many mistakes. She wanted to discount everything that her older self had done and was trying to do and she could have if it wasn't for one thing.

Father.

It was a simple fact that could not be ignored. Castiel had taken a wrong path, that was certain. Yet when he sought and received their Father's council, a thing amazing all on its own, it had set him on the road he now travelled. True, there had been other choices, but even she had to admit that the one he'd made offered the best chance to set things right.

So, the question was, would she remain the good soldier and side with Heaven. Would she report this, taking whatever punishment they would mete out to her and her older self. Or, would she follow the Word of her Father and attempt to change everything?

She gave a slight huff of amusement, surprised that she could find anything funny about this as she was quite simply terrified. All of her questions were unnecessary, because the answer was obvious.

And what she would have to do about it, even more so.

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Exactly fifty-nine minutes after she had left, Castiel returned to the safe house in Texas. Her other self was already there and they nodded to each other.

"Brother…" The term wasn't exactly correct, but it would do. "I have thought hard on what you have shown me."

Cas glanced upwards. "As you came alone, I take it that you agree to switch vessels."

"No."

Cas jerked slightly, the movement reflexive and mostly Jimmy's.

"However," She continued. "I am willing to leave Claire Novak…" She took a deep breath. "And join with you."

Cas' mouth dropped open. Fundamentally, he had just shocked himself silly.

"But… that is usually only done when an angel is sent back through time to tweak an event and finds that his future self would have significantly different memories when he returns. It isn't usually done the other way around."

"But it can be, and I know that the changes you've already made have altered what I was to know."

Cas ran through the variables in his mind, using math that would send a top-flight physicist into mind-ruptured hysterics. It could be done, although there was a danger, mostly to his vessel's mind and his younger self. Jimmy was willing to accept the risk to get his daughter free. As for the other…

"You do realize that as I am the older, more powerful part of you, that you would essentially be subsumed by my personality."

Castiel nodded. "Yes. However, your vessel's mind could act as a wedge. You would still be dominant, but we could be separated if it were ever necessary."

Cas had the feeling that if Jimmy could control his body at the moment that he would be hyperventilating, although he noted that even in a state of panic, that the man was willing to go through with it. The angel reassured him further. Acting as a wedge to keep a crack open between the two of them would actually protect him from being crushed. They would both be very careful not to put too much pressure on it.

Cas took a deep breath. "Sister, are you certain that you wish to do this? I am still willing to leave the rest of this history up to you."

Castiel nodded. "Yes, I… I would not be able to do what needs to be done. Not having lived it I am… too set in my ways. You, we…" She shook her head, in an attempt to align some of her new memories. "We rebelled against Heaven, but we held our faith in our Father, even if it did get scraped raw a few times. And now you are following the path He set you. You can fix this, or at least you have been given His permission to try. The best way that I can help you do that, is to get out of your way."

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Jimmy Novak woke out of a sound sleep and looked around the darkened room. Unlike the last time this had happened, he could hear the sound of voices in another part of the house. Quietly he got out of bed and shrugged into his robe as he stepped into the hall, listening. He froze, his mouth going dry as he recognized one of the voices coming from his daughter's room as Castiels. The deep rumble was too distinct to mistake for anyone else.

A moment later, he was opening the door to Claire's room, the memory of him moving down the hall completely gone in his worry. The first thing he saw was his daughter, fully dressed and sitting on her bed. He noticed Castiel across the room, leaning against a dresser.

"Dad." Startled, Jimmy found his arms full as his daughter threw herself at him, hugging him for all she was worth.

"I'm sorry."

"Claire?"

"I'm sorry, you said to say no, but when he asked… He was so beautiful. I couldn't."

Jimmy's arms tightened around his daughter as he looked towards angel.

"What. Happened." The question was asked through gritted teeth.

Cas sighed. "My self from this time came and asked her to be his vessel. She said yes."

Jimmy closed his eyes and shook his head. "No, no… Please. If it has to be one of us, then let it be me."

"Dad…I already…"

"What?" He looked from her, to Cas.

"She has already acted briefly as… as my other self's vessel. Once I realized what had happened, we were able to make alternate arrangements. There should be no reason for any version of me to seek out either of you again."

Jimmy slumped slightly and held on tighter to his daughter.

Cas straightened up, preparing to leave. He hesitated for a moment, and then looking around, he took a piece of paper and a pen from Claire's homework desk and quickly wrote something down.

Jimmy and Claire slowly let go of each other as they watched.

"If anything should ever happen. If you ever need help, then I can usually be reached at the first number. If that doesn't work a message can be relayed through the second number." He placed the paper and pen back down on the desk.

Jimmy almost laughed at the thought of phoning an angel. "And if neither of those works?"

"Then pray, I will hear you. The only problem is that others may as well." Cas paused for a moment, before continuing. "If anyone asks me, I will inform them that the vessel I am using is your twin brother. I will enter the information I showed your wife into the system just in case."

"You think someone will look?"

"No, but I prefer to be thorough." He smiled slightly at man and daughter. "In the meantime, James Novak, Claire Novak, live a good life."

"Thank you." Jimmy said, the words only half way out of his mouth when he realized that he was talking to thin air. Shaking his head, he turned to look at his daughter.

"Now, what did I say about talking to strange angels?"

Laughing and crying at the same time, Claire hugged her father, happy to be home.

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Cas left the Novaks and flew to the safe house in Texas. As soon as he got there, he started to pull out the items he would need to replace his last layer of warding. He didn't know if it was premonition or plain dumb luck, but his earlier reluctance to fix his shielding would now make it possible for him to pass as the him from this time.

Right now, Cas appeared as a being of power. He was able to manipulate the wards enough that someone trying to 'feel' him out wouldn't be able to sense the true level of his strength. With a little adjustment to the spell that he had already prepared, he would be able to present a façade that would let him pass as the Castiel from this time. He would also be able to 'flip' it, allowing him appear as Kaseva as well.

He could only thank Father for giving him this information about the wards. It would have made him wonder how much He already knew about what was to happen, but since it tended to be everything, the thought died before it could be born.

Castiel started to move faster. He could get away with being absent from Heaven for a few more hours, as long as he had a rescued Dean Winchester to show for it. However, he couldn't be gone too long, or they would start to wonder why they couldn't find him.

And even at angel speed, this was going to take a while.

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Dean startled awake and then stood up abruptly as he found himself sitting on the toilet in a bathroom stall with a broken door and not on Bobby's decrepit old couch. The thump of music with a serious dance beat bled through the walls and Dean poked his head out of the stall out to see a run of sinks and a couple of urinals.

"Well, at least it's the men's room." Though not a very clean one. The sound of music got louder as the bathroom door opened and a guy came in. His body appeared to be in a competition to see how many piercing and tattoos he could cover himself with.

Dean just out and out decided to ignore the fact that the guy was also dressed completely in latex.

He gave Dean a brief, slightly confused glance, and then ignored him as he made his way to one of the urinals. Deciding that getting out of wherever here was would be a good idea, Dean headed to the bathroom door. He made a quick pat down of his pockets as he did, not surprised to find that he didn't have his cell phone. Thankfully, he'd fallen asleep fully dressed and did have some money in his pockets.

"Payphone." He glanced back at latex guy. "Payphone right now."

He walked out of the bathroom and into the club. Noisy, gritty, smelly…he paused to watch a dancer gyrate in a cage and added interesting to the list. At random, he stopped a passing woman, who was wearing a very short leather corset dress.

"Hey, where am I?" He asked, yelling to be heard over the music.

She smiled. "Why, you're in Hell baby."

Dean blinked and stepped back, letting her continue on her way. Looking around he figured his best course of action would be to try for information at the bar. He worked his way through the crowd, trying to avoid the mosh pit of a dance floor. It made getting there annoying enough that he ordered a draft before yelling out his question.

"Hey, what's the name of this place?"

The bartender looked slightly surprised at the question, but just shrugged and answered.

"Club Hell."

Dean swallowed half his beer in one gulp. He was pretty sure that he'd have heard of this place if it were actually in Sioux Falls. "So, what city am I in?"

The guy shook his head. "When did you start drinking today?"

Dean glowered at him. "Just answer the question."

"Providence."

Dean blinked. "Rhode Island?"

"Yeah." The bartender was giving him an 'I think I need to cut this guy off or call the bouncers,' look.

Dean downed the rest of his drink and set the empty glass down on the bar. "Thanks. You got a payphone?"

"Back by the washrooms." The bartender gave him one more look before moving off to help rubber bedecked patron.

Dean sighed, cursed himself for not having noticed the phone earlier and turned to start the arduous task of working his way to the bathrooms. He jerked back as he found himself nose to nose with Castiel.

"Cas?"

"My name is Castiel. I am an Angel of the Lord." He gave the club a look. "I am here to grip you tight and raise you from perdition."

"Wha…"

Dean didn't get to finish what he was about to say. Castiel reached out to hold him by the left shoulder, his hand matching itself to the burn mark there. Dean grit his teeth as he felt it heat up, wondering if he was about to get a replay of what had happened when he'd first gotten the hand shaped scar.

The next instant, man and angel were both back at Bobby's place.

Castiel didn't let go, and Dean swallowed against the sudden dryness in his throat as he stared into the angel's eyes, worried that this was no longer the Cas that he'd come to know.

"Dean Winchester is saved." Castiel said, the sound of his voice reverberating so deeply that Dean felt it down to the marrow in in his bones.

Then the angel let go of the hunter and stepped back.

Dean narrowed his eyes at Cas. "You just pulled me out of 'Hell'."

"Yes."

The hunter slumped in relief, his previous fears dismissed. "Dude, is that even going to work?"

Castiel shrugged. "I admit, it is ridiculous. However, the more I can technically avoid lying, the less likely it is that I will be caught at it."

"Okay, sure, but why did you need to do something like…?" Dean's voice tapered off. "What happened with your other self?"

Cas took a deep breath. "We have joined together, so that there is currently only one of me. And since there is only one of me, I must take up my duties again."

"And the less you have to lie about saving me…"

"Yes."

"So, is this going to work?" Dean asked.

"I have no idea."

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Many miles away and a minute or so previously, a young woman sat up in bed and looked around for the voice she had just heard.

"Who is hell is Dean Winchester? And saved from what?"

When nothing answered her, Anna Milton fluffed her pillow a little before curling back up and falling asleep.

It would be the last good night's sleep she'd get for a long, long time.

Author's note: Apologies to Club Hell. What I know of it I got from the web.


	24. Chapter 24

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 24

Crowley looked out at the vast, seething landscape of Hell and marvelled at the quiet. Oh, there was still noise. Even this far from the Pit the sounds of screaming, begging, laughing and the ever-present clank of chain as the damned writhed on the racks couldn't be escaped. However, those were sounds that the denizens of this reality were use to. What was missing was all the noise the angels had added as they attempted to lay siege to Hell for the past thirty years.

Crowley shook his head over what had to have been the strangest military action in any reality. Without Lilith alive to drive the demons into the fight, the majority of Hell's inhabitants had simply run away. Add to that the frequency with which the angelic Host set off booby traps and the whole thing came closer to resembling a Monty Python sketch than a military campaign.

He suspected that the entire mess was just further proof that God had a sense of humour. However, you still didn't want to be on the receiving end of it.

Bela came up beside him. "I take it that they found him."

"Oh, they found him. In fact, they kept fighting even after they got him topside." He shook his head. "Kept us running around, looking in all the wrong places." He frowned and turned to her. "They didn't strike me as being that sneaky."

She shrugged. "The guys at the top were probably responsible for that."

"True." He noticed that she had his schedule in her hands. "Is there something I'm supposed to be at?"

She nodded. "Yes. You have an appointment Earth side, with a demon named Meg."

Crowley winced. "Azazel's daughter."

Bela looked equally pained. "Apparently she's leading Lilith's people now."

"Damn. Did she say what she wanted?"

Bela shook her head.

"Joy." He sighed. "Prep the usual safety precautions. Oh, and get me a couple more teams for upstairs. I suspect I'll be there a while."

"You would be anyway."

"Granted, but normally I'd be expecting to enjoy it."

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"So, Castiel, you're quite the man of the hour." Zachariah said, looking the other angel over.

"Thank you, but I did nothing more than my duty." Cas' voice was as unemotional as he could make it. It was harder to do than expected. He'd been around humans…and Gabriel enough that it was now commonplace for him to do things like smile, sigh, laugh…and showing too much emotion would get him sent for re-education. Something he'd rather skip this time around.

"Yes, your duty. It's quite amazing, don't you think?" Zachariah asked. His eyes narrowed. "Here you are, the angel assigned to the job of raising the soul of the Righteous Man, and you were the only one who could find him."

"I was surprised as well.' Castiel hesitated for a moment, not certain that what he was about to suggest was a good idea. "It almost felt as if our Father had a hand in guiding me."

Zachariah paled slightly. "Well… That's…good."

Cas really wanted to roll his eyes. As Dean had mentioned before, Zachariah was a dick. He also wasn't very good at hiding just how pissed he was at Castiel for 'saving' Dean before the first seal had been broken. If the angel had had any doubts that his commanding officer had been involved in starting up the apocalypse from the beginning, he would now have been free of them. As much as it still disturbed Cas to wish ill of his brothers, he found a worrying amount of satisfaction in the fact that Dean had killed the Cherubim in the original time line.

"Well, he's your charge now. There are things he must be warned about, things he will need to be prepared for… should the worst occur. Although Lilith is gone, many of her followers are still working to free Lucifer. They will be doing their best to get Dean Winchester back into Hell. We've also heard rumours that the last seal is starting to reform."

Cas clamped down on the reflex to swear at the news. While he knew the first seal would continue to be a danger point, he hoped it would no longer matter as there was no way to break the last lock on Satan's cage.

He should have known it wouldn't be that easy. Things with the Winchesters never were.

"Is the new form of the last seal known yet?"

Zachariah shook his head. "Nope."

Cas fought the impulse to frown. His 'boss' had just lied. He couldn't prove it. In fact, he couldn't even explain how he knew it was a lie to himself. However, he was certain that Zachariah knew exactly what would be bound to the last seal.

He buried that thought. Deep. Before Zachariah could look him in the eye.

"Do you have any special orders for me at this time?"

"No. As I've said you must watch over him, teach him. Luckily, you getting there in time means we do not have to fight to keep the seals safe at the moment."

Cas wondered if Zachariah realized he'd said that last little bit through gritted teeth.

"Oh, and see if you can find out what's blocking him and his brother from our senses." Zachariah smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "I would hate for them to be hurt just because we couldn't find them in time."

"I exist to serve." Cas said the line automatically, remembering when that statement had been nothing but simple fact. Bowing slightly to the other angel, he straightened and turned, glad to take his leave. Somehow being in his commanding officer's presence left him feeling…slimy.

It was disturbing to realize that if it came to a choice, he'd rather deal with Crowley, than follow any order of Zachariahs.

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"Dean, I wonder if you and Sam could do me a favour?"

Dean pulled himself out of the Impala's engine and looked up at Bobby.

"Sure, what's up?"

"Sam's found a hunt in Maine. If you take it, I was hoping you could stop in Vermont and drop this off for me." The older hunter held up a boxed bottle of Johnny Walker Blue.

"Whoa, how do I get on that Christmas list?"

Bobby snorted. "It's something I owe to another hunter. Rufus Turner. Pretty much knows everything about everything."

Dean blinked. "I thought that was you."

"I try, but he's still got me beat on occasion." Bobby opened the backdoor to the Impala and laid the bottle down on the seat. "If you're smart, you'll pick up another bottle of this stuff and offer to share it with Rufus. It'd be your best chance to pick his brain."

"Yeah, but for what?"

Bobby shrugged. "Choose something. Between angels, demons and the threat of a possible apocalypse, there'll be something you can talk about, and probably something that he'll know. 'Sides, you two should expand your contact base as far as other hunters go."

"Oh yeah, 'cause that worked so well when we were hanging out at the roadhouse."

"And that's why you need to do it. If those guys had known you better…"

"They'd have still done the same thing."

Bobby gave him a one-shoulder shrug. "Maybe, but maybe some of them wouldn't have. And those are the type you need to start making contact with."

Dean nodded, grudgingly admitting that Bobby was right. "Okay, I'll tell Sam what's going on and get cleaned up. You going to let the guy know we're coming?"

Bobby's smile was slightly evil. "Now, what would be the fun in that?"

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One thing that Cas found useful about being on the clock was that tuning into what Dean had called Angel Radio didn't have to be done carefully and sporadically. Of course, the sheer number of conversations going on at any time could be a bit much for even an angel to keep track of. However, they did at least tend to be pertinent and lacked the gossip that a human system would have had.

More or less.

Cas listened with half an ear. Right now, the talk centered on the righteous man being saved, his abomination of a brother, and the fact that there was a presence listening in on the angels that no one recognized.

Castiel snapped to attention, listening in on that particular conversation. At first, he thought that Gabriel or Balthazar might have tuned in, but once he'd gone searching for that presence, it was painfully obvious to him who it was.

Anna.

Cas winced as he felt his younger self briefly express her horror at the thought of the fallen angel, before the older personality took over fully again. Sighing, Castiel shook his head. He'd forgotten how naïve his younger self had been. He had little he could condemn Anna for, having followed similar and worse paths in his own life.

He had actually checked in on the fallen angel earlier, but she had been living her life as Anna Milton and he'd hoped that this time she might have the chance to finish out that life undiscovered.

Sometimes he didn't know why he wasted his energy hoping for things like that. Not when time itself was trying to push back at the changes.

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Anna sat, the sandwich in her hand ignored. Head tilted to one side, she listened to the conversations of angels, never realizing that she understood them perfectly when they weren't even speaking English.

"Anna." A hand came down on her shoulder and she jumped. Heart slamming in her chest she looked up at her father who was looking down at her in concern.

"I called your name three times. What has you so preoccupied?"

She blew out a huff of air. "Sorry Dad, I was just…thinking."

"Must be heavy thoughts." He sat down beside her and gave her a questioning look.

She shrugged and bit into her sandwich, effectively cutting off her ability to speak.

With a wry smile, Reverend Milton shook his head. "Are you sure you can still run those things over to the church for me? I can go later if you can't."

She shook her head, grabbing the glass of milk in front of her to wash down the sandwich.

"No, I'm happy to do it, Dad. Just let me finish up here and I'll be gone."

"You're sure?"

She nodded and took another bite of her sandwich, determined to stop listening to the whispering of other voices.

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Anna shuffled into the church's kitchen and heaved the bags up onto the counters. She quickly sorted the items. Cookies, sugar, stir sticks, tea bags, paper plates and napkins into the cupboards, coffee and cream into the fridge and frozen lemonade into the small but adequate freezer. There would be a potluck lunch after services on Sunday and the church itself always provided basic drinks.

She closed her eyes and leaned against the counter as the voices once more became too loud to ignore. Apparently, someone named Castiel had gone to watch over the righteous man and had disappeared from their senses. They weren't unduly concerned, just curious as to what was around Dean and Sam Winchester that kept them hidden. A few were asking questions as to why Castiel seemed to be the only one of them that could find his way through the shielding. The rest wanted to know how it was able to obscure even an angel's presence.

Most of them didn't have an answer, thought several of them thought that their Father was somehow involved.

The girl felt the false calm she'd enveloped herself in crack and splinter. She had angels in her head. Angels talking about God. Angels talking about a man rescued from Hell. Angels talking about a coming apocalypse.

Saying that Anna walked out of the kitchen would be a kind way of putting it. Staggered drunkenly was closer, but either way she made her way down the hall and into the sanctuary, dropping into one of the centre pews once she made it there. She stared blindly at nothing for a few moments, before rousing herself enough to try to pray.

"I wouldn't do that too loudly if I were you. The angels are already starting to search for you."

The girl jolted sideways in the pew, looking with frightened eyes at the man who stood in the aisle next to where she was sitting.

Whoever he was, he was wearing way too much black. Black pants, shirt, tie, suit coat. Heck, even the trench coat he wore over all of that was black.

Anna backed up a little more when she saw his face. If you asked her, she could have told you that they guy had black hair and blue eyes, but that was all. Shadow obscured the rest of his features. Shadow that shouldn't have existed in the well-lit room.

"You said the angels are looking for me?"

He nodded.

"So what does that make you?"

"A concerned bystander."

Shaking her head she stood and started to back up, trying to get to the aisle on the other side of the pew. The guy watched her, but didn't move. Once she'd made it to the end of the long bench, she turned, intending to run out of the sanctuary and down to her father's office, where she could lock the door and call for help.

Instead, she jerked back so hard she almost fell as she found herself nose to nose with the man in black. He grabbed onto her arms to stop her from falling, but he didn't let go once she was steady again.

"Please, don't." She didn't know what he was planning, however the fact that he knew about the angels, but apparently wasn't one himself meant… She swallowed her fear just long enough to ask the question.

"Are you a demon?"

What she could see of his features was grim. He seemed to be trying to decide something about her, and she got the breath stopping sensation that some of his options included her death. Yet, she had the horrible feeling that she should be more worried about what he was going to do with her if he let her live.

"No."

It took her a second to realize that he was answering her question.

"What?"

"No, I am not a demon." He let go of her and backed up enough that she could move from the narrow passage between the pews and out onto the open space of the aisle.

"The angels know you're listening in." He backed up another step, as if realizing that he was still to close to her for her comfort.

She frowned at him. It wasn't as if she wanted them in her head. She kept trying to block them out, but they were always there.

"You should avoid praying about this matter. They would be able to find you that way. "

She nodded. Angels finding out where she was and coming after her would be a very bad thing. How she knew this, she didn't know. However, it didn't stop it from being true.

"I do not believe the demons know of your existence yet. If you want to keep it that way, you will need to avoid 'freaking out'."

Anna blinked. There was just something wrong with a scary supernatural something using quote fingers.

"If you tell anyone what has happened to you, the demons will find out and they will come for you and your family."

Anna started to back up towards the doors, shaking her head. He sighed and disappeared. Her back came up against his body a second later.

"Anna."

She almost whimpered. Scary guy knew her name. Somehow, that was a bigger shock than knowing about the angels.

"Who are you?" She turned to look at him, moving few steps away from him as she did and still slightly freaked by the fact that she could never quite see his face.

"My name is Kaseva. Essentially, I am a pagan god."

"Right. A pagan god…in church."

He shrugged. "This place, strangely enough, seemed the best choice for speaking with you in private." He tossed her a small bundle, which she caught reflexively.

The voices, stopped. Startled, she almost dropped the thing.

"Keep that with you. It will help to hide you from angels and demons."

"Um." She looked at the little tied bag, not quite willing to trust it. "Why give me this? Why help me?"

"Hell is attempting to free Lucifer and start the apocalypse. The knowledge you could provide about the angels would help them with it. I and many others like me have no interest in letting the conflict come to pass."

"I wouldn't…"

Even without being able to see his face properly, she knew that the look he gave her was an annoyed one. "They would torture you for that information, unendingly. You would eventually break and tell them everything."

Anna felt her knees give out. The next instant she found herself sitting in one of the pews again, with Kaseva next to her.

Fighting tears, she turned the little bag over in her hands. "Why is this happening to me?"

The demigod sitting beside her seemed to hesitate for a moment.

"That I cannot say.

"Cannot or will not?"

She looked up at him when he didn't answer.

"You know…"

He tilted his head, the action somewhat bird like. "Yes, but as I said, I cannot say."

And with that, he was gone.

Anna shook her head. "Must be nice, never having to stay and risk losing an argument."

Slowly she curled up where she sat, letting her tears fall. One scared girl, somehow very alone in the House of the Lord.


	25. Chapter 25

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 25

Sam and Dean stood on the porch of a semi rundown house in Canaan, Vermont. Sam glanced at the sign next to the door that said 'No Solicitors. This Means You. No Asking For Donations. No Selling Anything.' He tossed a raised eyebrow look to his brother, who shrugged and rang the bell.

"What?"

Both of them directed their eyes towards the voice, which was coming from the camera mounted above their heads.

"Uh, hey. I'm Dean Winchester, this is my brother Sam." Both of them half smiled, half grimaced at the camera.

"So?" The voice asked, sounding annoyed.

"We're friends of Bobby Singer." Sam said.

"So.?"

Dean pulled the cardboard encased bottle of Scotch out of a duffle bag he had slung over his shoulder. "He asked us to drop this off to you."

Silence stretched on for a few seconds, before the sound of a lock opening broke it.

Rufus Turner, tall, black and slightly grizzled, reached out and took the bottle from Dean. "'Bout time Bobby made good on that."

Dean nodded. "Yeah, well, me and my brother, we were kind of curious as to what that stuff was like."

Rufus hugged his bottle possessively and narrowed his eyes.

Dean smiled and dug a second bottle out of the duffle bag. "So you know if you'd be able to lend us the use of some glasses, we'd be happy to share."

The smile Rufus gave them was almost beautiful.

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"Nectar of the Gods." Rufus said as he started to sip at his second glass of Scotch.

Dean raised his glass in agreement. "Makes a nice change. Most of the whiskey we drink seems to come in plastic jugs."

Rufus snorted. "Sounds like you hang out with Bobby a bit too much. Man always did have lousy taste when it came to his booze."

Sam, who'd figured one of them needed to stay sober enough to drive, was still carefully sipping at his first drink. Frowning slightly, he set his glass down.

Ever aware of his brother, Dean gave Sam a look. "What?"

"Huh?" Sam shook his head. "I suddenly remembered Bobby mentioning Rufus here before. I just can't remember when that was."

Dean took a long swallow of Scotch. Now that Sam mentioned it, there was a sense memory of him and Sam and Bobby, standing together and looking down at something…

He finished the last of the liquor in his glass as he remembered what it had been.

"You were there when Bobby's wife…"

Rufus looked surprised. "Yeah, I didn't think he'd ever talk about that with someone. He couldn't even bring himself to discuss it with me, and I was there."

Dean shrugged. "Doubt he would have normally. It just came up during a really weird job."

Rufus gave a short bark of laughter. "How weird would that have to be?"

Dean thought back to dream walking through Bobby's head. "Twilight Zone ramped up to eleven."

Rufus pulled the cork out of the bottle of Scotch and poured himself a little more of the amber liquid. "Guess it would have to be. See, I think it's pretty odd that you're sitting here when I know that your deadline came up weeks ago. So I suspect that what you think of as strange would probably rock my world, if I weren't as old and cynical as I am."

"How'd you know about that?" Sam asked him, beating Dean out by a half second.

"Because I know things." Rufus frowned as he looked into his glass. "But even so, I don't know how you pulled that one off, cause I heard that the Hellhounds actually came for you. And no, Bobby didn't tell me about it."

"How badly do you want to know? " Dean asked. Oddly enough, Dean found he was willing to tell the man the truth, or at least some of it, despite the danger to them. Maybe it was because the guy had obviously stepped in and helped Bobby during one of the most painful moments of the older man's life. Or perhaps it was because Dean felt that Bobby was right and Rufus was the kind of contact they would want to cultivate. Either way…

Rufus shook his head. "I don't give up my sources."

Dean smiled, even more sure now. "Not what I'm asking. If we tell you what happened, then it doesn't leave this house. So, are you willing to hold knowledge that you can never tell?"

Rufus snorted. "Already covers about half of what I know. So lay it on me."

The two brothers looked at each other. Sam's forehead creased up in a question. Dean answered it with a 'what the hell' shrug.

"Loop hole." Sam knocked back the rest of his drink and put the glass down. "The contract holder did a rush job on the agreement so there was a way out." He looked at his brother and the alcohol almost came back up as he remembered Dean, lying on the floor, his chest cut to ribbons. He cleared his throat before continuing. "The only problem was that Dean had to be dead before it could be activated."

"Hence my time as a Hellhound's chew toy."

Rufus gave both of them a good, hard look and then nodded. "Good to know, but why keep it a secret?"

"'Cause there are some players that wanted me in Hell, and if they find out I never got there, they'll be pissed. Pissed enough to find a way to send me there, deal or no deal."

"Okay then." Rufus uncorked the bottle and poured a couple more ounces into his glass. "So, you heading up to Maine for that salt and burn? 'Cause let me tell you, there's more going on up there than just a ghost."

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"Crowley."

A certain King of the Crossroads had to fight the inclination to smash his fist into the wide smile of the woman in front of him.

"Meg. It's been awhile. How have you been?"

She raised an eyebrow at the ridiculousness of the question. "Busy. We've been trying to fix what was supposed to be the perfect plan."

Crowley's smile was brittle. The last thing he wanted was anyone breathing life back into that project. "Yes, well, it's not like anyone could have predicted that the Winchesters would kill Lilith before the first seal was broken…and then of course it wasn't, broken I mean."

Meg frowned. "It's true then? One of the halo brigade pulled him out before he shed blood in Hell?"

Crowley nodded. "He's already topside, with an angel parked on his ass keeping him safe."

She gave him one of those wide lazy smiles the face she was borrowing seemed made for. "You already made a try for him?"

He half laughed. "Found him by accident. Didn't get the chance to celebrate. Now I can't even find the little bugger again."

Meg's lips twitched as if she were trying not to smirk. "They've got a friend you know. Name's Singer. Wouldn't take much to use him to find them."

"That was how I found him the first time." He shook his head. "Now, he's off radar as well and his place is empty. Looks like he went on a hunt right after the Winchesters left, but we've got no idea where."

Now Crowley was fighting the smirk that was trying to crawl over his lips. Meg looked like she wanted to eviscerate a few some ones, and probably would once she left here. The female demon took a deep breath and let it out.

"That's inconvenient, but then, we don't need them right away. It would be best to wait until the last seal is remade anyway."

"Last seal?" Crowley's question was mild, even though his mind was racing.

Meg's lips stretched across her face in another one of those wide smiles. "It's reforming. Heaven's doing, as far as we can tell." She shook her head. "Dumb idiots. If they'd left it alone we'd never be able to free our father."

Crowley's mind stuttered for a moment, as what Meg said became the last piece in a puzzle he hadn't even known he'd been working on. The angels, or at least some of them, were trying just as hard as Meg and her group to set off the apocalypse.

The demon stood there, blinking rapidly as he tried to get his mind around the sheer stupidity of it.

"Crowley?"

He jerked back to reality. "Sorry luv, just thinking."

She snorted. "Well, if you can think up a plan to stick Dean's ass back in Hell, then let me know."

He nodded. "You'll be the first I tell."

After she left, he sat down behind his desk and poured himself a very large Scotch. He'd always figured on killing Dean, but now if he did and the hunter went to Hell, then there was the danger of the first seal being broken. If he went to Heaven, then the dicks up there would probably just resurrect him, or send him to Hell themselves. So, that left three options. Killing the pain in the ass in such a way that his soul was completely destroyed, killing him so that he wandered the Earth as a ghost, or killing him and having him go somewhere other than Heaven or Hell, which left…

Purgatory.

Crowley leaned back into his chair and nodded. That was doable. Given the things the Winchesters hunted, getting Dean turned should be relatively easy. As for killing him, hell, he'd probably do it himself. And once he was unreachable in Purgatory, the plan would be screwed. For a while at least.

Now, who could he use for such a delicate job? And would he have to find a way to keep the angel from interfering?

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It was only millennium of experience that kept Castiel from fidgeting as he waited for Zachariah to speak with him. He'd sought revelation earlier, expecting to receive his usual daily instruction. Instead, he had been bid to appear before his commanding officer. Something he would rather have put off for an epoch or two.

"Ah, Castiel. Sorry to call you in, but your next assignment is rather specialized."

Cas barely kept himself from frowning. There was something familiar about this meeting.

"Now as you know, Dean's brother Sam…"

"Is an abomination." While the angel had enough sense not to say that in front of Sam in this time line, it was what he would have said in a similar conversation with Zachariah in the original one. Only that conversation had happened later and the mission he'd gone on was no longer necessary.

"Exactly, a human tainted with demon blood." The cherubim's face twisted up into an expression of distaste. "The dangers involved in his brother's condition are something that the Righteous Man will need to know about and understand. To that end, Dean Winchester will have to travel back in time to hear the truth from the demon's own lips. He will need to witness the deal that was struck between Azazel and Mary Campbell."

"That will not be necessary." Castiel said, the words escaping his mouth before he could stop his knee-jerk tendency towards telling the truth.

Zachariah froze for a moment, and then looked at Castiel with an annoyed, yet questioning expression. "How so?"

In for a penny… "I have spoken with Dean and Sam Winchester. The fact that the younger brother has demon blood came up in our conversation and Sam has told Dean what he knows about it. Sam Winchester has also decided against developing any of the powers that the blood could provide him."

Cas kept his expression bland, even though the sight of Zachariah grinding his teeth in frustration was amusing enough to merit a chuckle.

"Yes well, knowing something and seeing it first hand are two different things. You will transport Dean Winchester to April 30th 1973, so that he may witness these things."

Now Cas wanted to grind his teeth, though he refrained from doing so and answered his boss.

"Of course. I shall attend to this matter immediately."

"Good… Oh, by the way, did you ever find out what blocks them and anything near them from our senses?"

Sadly, lying would probably not work completely in this instant. "Dean believes that the being that held his contract was responsible for hiding him from us, at least for a time. When I found Dean, he was unrestrained and wandering aimlessly through a sea of bodies on the outer edges of the Pit (well, mosh pit). Now that he is back, they are using hex bags. Sam mentioned that he learned to make them from the demon, Ruby." And that was completely true, in the other time line. "They are effective, but there appears to be a flaw in them that allows me to see through them, even though I am unable to explain how it is possible. I have looked one of the bags over. Its protection is flawed, I can sense that, but I cannot explain how I am able to use the defect."

And neither would any other angel. Even if they got their hands on one of the bags and dissected it, it would tell them nothing.

"You could get rid of them."

Cas nodded at Zachariah's suggestion. "Yes, but they would notice, and they would just make new ones. And those ones might not be flawed."

"Ah…" His boss seemed to think it over for a few moments. "Very well, leave them for now, but be prepared to disappear them should the need arise."

"Of course." Long familiar with his superior's ways, Castiel recognized when a meeting was over. He gave the other angel a quick bow and headed off to fulfill his duty.

Which he would do, mostly because if he didn't they would just send another to make it happen. That didn't mean he wouldn't try to figure out what part this time travel was supposed to play. Because he was beginning to think that it had never been about warning Dean of Sam's powers.

Half asleep, Sam sat down on his bed and looked over at his brother who had conked out fully dressed on the queen-sized bed closest to the door of their motel room. Rufus had been right about this not being an average salt and burn. There'd been a ghost, well ghosts. The women whose deaths they were investigating had all come back as angry spirits. And all of them had been focused on killing the man who had killed them. Of course, it couldn't be that straight forward, as he turned out to be a hired killer. Once the ghosts had taken him down, they went after the man who'd hired him.

Turned out the guy had hired the hit man to kill his wife. The problem was that the bastard hadn't wanted to risk coming under serious suspicion so he'd also hired him to kill a few other women who were similar in looks to his wife. From what he'd said at the end, he'd hoped that the police would believe that there was a serial killer at work.

In Sam's opinion, he never wanted to see what two dead women could do to a man again, even if he did think the hired killer had it coming. Surprisingly, it had been the still very much alive wife who had put an end to her husband.

The salt and burn that had followed the mess had exhausted the both of them. Sam was fully intending to join his brother in dreamland when the sound of wings flapping made him pry his eyes open.

"Castiel?"

The angel sat on the side of Dean's bed, looking down at the man. Sam frowned at the scene as he realized that he was being ignored. He would have said something, but Dean chose that moment to snap awake.

"Cas?" Dean shifted into a half sitting position and shoved the jacket he'd been using as a blanket down to his waist. He glanced over at his brother who shrugged.

"Hello Dean."

The hunter rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "Hey. What's up?"

The angel grimaced slightly and glanced over at Sam for a brief moment before focusing completely on Dean. "Listen to me, you have to stop it."

Dean's forehead creased up in confusion. "Stop what?"

Instead of answering, the angel reached out and touched two fingers to Dean's forehead.

Any tiredness that Sam was feeling was suddenly ripped away as his brother and the angel winked out of existence.

"Hey!"

Sam was off the bed and standing in a flash, adrenaline running through his body. The only problem was he didn't know what to do with his sudden hyper alertness. Dean and Cas could be anywhere right now, and he had no way to follow.

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Meg stood in the parking lot outside the motel room Sam was currently pacing in. Finding the Winchesters wasn't as hard as everyone made out. All you really needed to do was to check on the biggest, messiest hunts you could find. Eventually you'd luck out and find the one they were working on. Of course, she'd almost not checked up on this one, because it had already been resolved. In the end, she had anyway, and a search of the local motels found Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley staying at the Willow Tree Motel. It had to be them, since she doubted that the two founding members of KISS were pinching pennies by staying in crap places like this.

She would dearly love to walk right in and have a little fun with the boys, but she needed them alive, or at least, she needed Sam alive. Dean she needed back in Hell. Getting him there, that would be the problem. And once he was back on the rack, she'd have to work on getting Sam to train his powers. Since taking over Lilith's job, she'd inherited the former demon's plans for the younger Winchester brother. He was the final key in the lock to daddy's cage and he would play his part, even if he had to be made to do it.

There was probably a way to play one of them off the other to get them both where she wanted them to be. She'd have to think about it.

For now though, she'd put a couple of demons on their tail. Keep them in sight while she came up with plans for both of them and the angel bodyguard they had picked up since Dean came back from Hell.

The first thing she should probably do was pick someone who could cozy up to Sam and get him training his powers. She'd have to choose carefully, because she suspected that further attempts to seduce him into using his powers would just get her a lot more dead demons.

So, who was either good at what they did, or expendable?


	26. Chapter 26

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 26

"Move it buddy."

Dean jerked awake and looked blearily up at the police officer standing over him.

"You can't sleep here."

"Okay." Wait, just a moment ago he was in a motel room with Sam and Cas, now… "Sleep where?" He asked, needing to know where Cas had apparently zapped him.

"Anywhere but here." The officer said misunderstanding Dean's question. He continued his rounds, moving down the street, although he did keep an eye on Dean until the young man pulled himself up into a sitting position on the bench he'd been asleep on.

Dean looked the street over. It was vaguely familiar, but he couldn't place it. The few cars on the road were all older cars, some of them classics and all of them cherry.

His baby would fit right in. Too bad it was back at the Willow Tree Motel and not here.

With that thought in mind, he dug into the inside pocket of his coat, which had made the trip with him. He pulled out his father's journal and then dug deeper, pulling out his cell phone.

No signal.

"Perfect."

He checked his surroundings again, focusing on the diner across the street. Collecting his things, he crossed the street. He needed information…and maybe some coffee.

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Cas watched invisibly as Dean found out that he was sitting in a diner in Lawrence, Kansas, that he had travelled back in time to the year 1973 and that the man who had just bought him a cup of coffee was his father.

The first time he had done this to Dean, he had believed it to be necessary. Now, he was ashamed that he had put him through this, feeding him false hope along the way.

Still, he had his part to play.

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Dean followed John Winchester from the diner and around a corner, stopping abruptly when he found Cas standing in his way.

Eyes wide, he had to ask. "What is this?"

"What does it look like?"

Frustrated, Dean stared into the angel's eyes, and realized that Cas was equally as angry as he was and unable to talk about it. Dean shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jacket for a moment, and threw Cas an even more annoyed look as he realized that the hex bag he kept in there was gone. He looked past the angel, to watch the retreating form of his father.

"Is it real?"

"Very." Cas' voice was bland, but Dean could see apology in his eyes.

Time travel. Dean swallowed. Well, it wasn't like he didn't know that Cas could do that. He just hadn't really thought of doing it himself.

Deloreans came to mind, but his father was getting further away and he didn't have time to explain Back to the Future to Cas.

"How did I get here?"

Cas looked a little surprised, as if Dean had somehow gone off script.

"Time is fluid Dean. It's not easy, but we can bend it on occasion."

"Well bend it back. Or tell me what the hell I'm doing here."

"I told you, you have to stop it." Dean could read frustration in Cas' gaze again.

Apparently, there was nothing he could do but play along for now. "Stop what? Huh? Is there something nasty after my dad?"

The sound of tires screeching pulled Dean's attention to the road. He wasn't all that surprised to find Cas gone when he turned back to him.

Didn't mean he wouldn't complain about though.

"Come on. What, are you allergic to straight answers you son of a bitch?" Grumbling, he shoved his hands back into his pockets and headed off down the street after his dad.

It only took him a few steps before he noticed the scrap of paper in his pocket that hadn't been there before. A discrete glance at it showed that it was the recipe for a hex bag. The ingredients for it were fairly straightforward and even if a couple of them were a bit disgusting, they were at least things he could provide from his own body. He shoved the paper back into his pocket. He would have to deal with it later. For now, he needed to find out what was after his father.

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Cas hadn't actually left; he'd only disappeared from Dean's visual spectrum. Frowning, he watched as Dean talked John Winchester into buying the Impala. Frowned, because if that had not happened, then a very special car would not have played its part to allow Sam Winchester to wrest control of his own body back from Lucifer long enough to trap the Devil once more.

So, what else wouldn't have happened if Dean hadn't been here?

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Dean had had a full evening. He'd stolen a car, followed his parents, found out his mom had been a hunter and had dinner with the grandparents, who were also hunters. After that, he'd stolen the clothing he'd need to use to follow up on the job out at the Whitshire Farm that Samuel Campbell had spoken of at dinner. Then he'd collected the items for the hex bag recipe and found a condemned house to hole up in while he made it.

He had just finished tying the complicated knot on the thing, when Cas faded into view in front of him.

Dean gave him an annoyed look. "So, can you talk now?"

Castiel gave a glance upwards and then nodded. "Yes. I'm sorry I had to disappear the original bag, but my superiors insisted."

Dean gazed at the bag he'd just made distastefully and set it down on the kitchen counter next to him. "Is this the same as the ones we normally use?"

Cas shook his head. "No. I gave you the instructions for this one because you'd be able to find the ingredients. While it is very good at blocking all supernatural creatures, including angels and demons, its effects are temporary. It will probably wear off by tomorrow evening."

"Okay, so… why am I here?"

Cas hesitated for a moment. "Originally, I was ordered to move you through time so that you might find out about what Azazel did to your brother. Also, Ruby was still alive and goading your brother into using his powers. I believe that my superiors felt the need to make a show of trying to stop Sam. "

"Azazel's here?" Dean asked, focusing on the first part of what Cas had been saying. "He's what I'm supposed to stop?"

"You were never expected to succeed."

Dean had to ask. "Do I have a chance? Can I stop him?"

Cas sighed. "The first time this happened, you did not. I told you that you shouldn't be too hard on yourself. That destiny can't be changed."

"And now?"

The angel gave him a half smile. "I'd say that was … Cowshit?"

Despite the situation, Dean had to grin. "Close enough."

"Besides," Cas continued. "I have come to believe that some of the events that shaped your future may have only happened because you came to the past."

"Wait, you mean if I had never travelled back in time, then the fire, mom dying, all of that may not have happened?"

Castiel shook his head. "I can not be sure. It may still have happened without you, just differently."

Dean gave him a narrow eyed look. "But you're not exactly buying it."

Cas sighed again. "No. And I very much hate what I may have unknowingly done to you."

"They'd have just used someone else to send me back here."

"Yes, but…" Cas' eyes flew wide as every surface in the house started to vibrate. Dean winced against the sound, which was loud, but not as bad as an angel's speaking voice.

"What the hell is that?" Dean yelled.

"I think my…boss has someone shadowing me as backup." Cas yelled back. "They must have become concerned when we disappeared from their senses."

The hex bag suddenly went up in flames.

"Crap!" Dean quickly used a broken piece of cabinet to shove the tiny flaming bag into the sink before using it to smother the fire.

"Oh good, I found you."

As Dean turned toward the angelic newcomer, who thankfully had arrived in a vessel, he caught a glimpse of Cas' face, which held an expression he usually saw on people who had just seen a ghost.

"Rachel." Her name was said quietly and with some wonder. The new angel was a young blonde woman who looked starched and business like.

"Castiel." She said, nodding to the other angel slightly. "We could not feel you. Thankfully, I already knew where the righteous man was staying for the night." She frowned at Dean. "You should stop trying to hide from us."

It took a moment for Dean's mind to catch up with the situation. Once it had, he remembered what Cas had said about the hex bag. "Actually, I wasn't trying to hide from you guys. That," He pointed at the burned mess in the sink. "Was supposed to keep me from being noticed by anything that might want to eat me or kill me."

She looked confused.

"You know, like vampires or ghouls or ghosts or what have you. Squatting in an empty house is dangerous and salt lines can only do so much."

"Oh." The angel looked surprised, as if she hadn't thought there would be a reason for the things a seasoned hunter might do.

"Oh." Dean answered back.

Cas reached into one of the pockets of his trench coat and pulled out a handful of crumpled bills. "Here, there should be enough for you to get a motel room for the night."

The female angel frowned at the money, and then her face lightened. "That's why you were doing that earlier."

Oh, Dean so wanted to ask, but he swallowed the question when Cas gave him a slight shake of his head.

"I don't need your money dude."

Cas shrugged. "You may as well take it. It is of no use to me." He dropped it onto the kitchen counter and glanced at Rachel, before turning back to Dean. "We have to leave. I will contact you should the need arise."

Then both of them were gone.

Dean made an annoyed sound that was mostly an unsuccessful attempt not to yell. Once he'd calmed down, his practical side gave him a poke and he collected the money from the counter where Cas had left it. It would only take him a moment to gather his things and he might as well go get a better place to sleep even if he'd probably end up spending the night worrying about the things Cas hadn't gotten the chance to tell him. It looked like he'd be going into this just as blind as he apparently had the first time.

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Turned out there had been eighty-seven dollars in that handful of money. In 1973 that was more than enough for a motel room, breakfast and gas for his stolen car. The Whitshire Farm was a few towns over after all.

Even with all that, he even managed to beat Samuel and Mary there.

While Gramps took over talking with Whitshire's widow, Dean joined his mom, who was outside talking quietly the with the dead farmer's son. From the sound of it, the kid had struck a crossroads deal without even knowing it.

And why was it that everyone else gets ten years and he was only offered one?

Mary pulled Dean aside. "What do you think?"

"I think he just pimped his soul to a demon and he doesn't even know it."

And wasn't that an uncomfortable thought. Bad enough that you could go out and do it on purpose, but by accident?

Mary didn't look any happier with the situation than Dean felt and it took him a moment to remember that demon possession and deals had been a fairly unheard of until a few years ago his time. What with the gate opening and the whole trying to break Lucifer out of his box, demon sightings had gone from a few incidents a year to a free for all.

They headed back to the kid, Charlie, and Mary asked him what the stranger he'd been talking to had looked like.

Of course, the only part Dean cared about was anything that was strange.

"The light hit his eyes in a weird way. For a moment I could have sworn…"

"What, that they were black, or red maybe?"

"No, they were yellow. Pale yellow."

Dean took a deep breath. Deals, the yellow-eyed son of a bitch really was here and he was making deals. Worse, he was near his family.

His eyes widened as he realized that tomorrow would be exactly ten years before Sam would be born. A deal made now would give Azazel access to baby Sam when he was six months old.

And the only two people who could have made that deal, were John and Mary.

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Time travel and hunters he'd never worked with were a pain in the ass. His explanation for why his dad's journal had future events written in it sucked, and he couldn't get Samuel on board with getting the Colt and going after Azazel.

So he'd have to do it himself.

Dean stopped on the way out to say goodbye to Mary. Talking with her and hearing how she felt that the worst thing she could imagine was her children being raised as hunters as she had been, well… he had to take the chance. If there was nothing else he could change, maybe he could at least keep her from dying.

"Hey Mary. Can I tell you something?'

She smiled at him. "Sure."

"Even if this sounds really weird, will you promise me that you will remember?"

Laughing slightly, she nodded again. "Okay."

Dean had to gather himself for a moment. "On November 2 1983... Don't get out of bed. No matter what you hear or what you see, promise me you won't get out of bed."

He blinked, feeling the slow slide of a tear as it escaped his eye.

Mary swallowed, her eyes wide. "Okay."

Dean gave her one final look and then he left.

He had a gun to collect.

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The first time around, Castiel had popped into the passenger seat of the car as Dean drove to Daniel Elkin's place to borrow the Colt. This time he didn't bother. He couldn't speak the truth to him and he already knew Dean's thoughts on the situation at hand. Unhappily, he watched the events he remembered unfold as they had the first time.

Dean got the gun from Elkin's and headed to the Walsh's in Haleyville. Samuel and Mary beat him there, shooting the doctor that Azazel was wearing. Dean arrived with the Cole and the demon smoked out of the body before the hunter could use it on him. Sadly, while he and Mary were speaking outside, Azazel managed to possess Samuel Campbell. All of them returned to the Campbell home. Mary left with John and Dean stayed with Samuel.

He told him everything. Or rather, he told Azazel all about being from the future.

In short order the demon had Dean pinned to a chair, with Deanna Campbell trying to sneak up behind the demon. Cas himself was ready to say screw it as far as keeping his connection to Heaven went and step in to stop what would come next…when something changed.

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"'Cause you know what I'm going to do, to your sibling? I'm going to stand over their crib and bleed into their mouth…" The yellow-eyed demon broke off and gave Dean a closer look. "But you already know that…how?"

"Future boy, remember? Hell, I even know what your end game is."

"Sure you do."

Dean smirked. "I'm 'cagey' that way."

The demon narrowed his eyes at him, and then snorted. "Ah, you think you know, but you don't. I've covered my tracks good."

Dean gaze could have melted steel. "You can cover whatever you want, but I'm still going to kill you."

"Right. Now that I'd like to see." Azazel gave him a grin so smarmy it oozed.

"Maybe not today. But you look into my eyes, you son of a bitch… Because I'm the one that kills you."

Azazel slimed out another smile and a laugh. "So you're going to save everybody, is that right. Is that it? Well, I'll tell you one person that you're not going to save." He pulled out the knife that Samuel kept on his belt. "Your grand pappy. He pointed the blade at the stomach of the body he was possessing.

It was as if the air shattered around him and Dean was suddenly moving, tackling the demon before he could thrust the blade home. At the same time, Deanna lunged for the Colt, scooping it up from the floor and falling into a shooting stance in one flowing motion.

The demon shoved Dean off him, flinging magic at him once he was free with the intention of pinning him to a wall. Only instead of a blast, the thrust buffeted Dean's body like a tired wave.

"Huh, so… You're not one of my psychic kids, but you're somebody's." Dean and Azazel both got to their feet, eyeing each other. The demon spared Dean's grandmother a glance and chuckled when he saw her pointing the Colt at him.

"You going to off old hubby?" The smirk on his face faded as Deanna's eyes went cold. He could almost feel frost in the air.

"Well, shit."

Black smoke streamed out of Samuel's mouth, whipped past Deanna and into the kitchen before it sifted itself through the window over the sink that was open just a crack.

Trembling, Mrs. Campbell relaxed her stance as her husband dropped to the floor.

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Invisible, Cas watched the unfolding scene, stunned.

This was not what had happened the first time.

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Deanna set the Colt down on the ground next to her as she knelt to check her husband over.

"I'm okay." He told her, trying to shake her off. It was something she might have believed if his voice hadn't been so hoarse.

Dean came up beside his grandmother and reached down for the Colt. If she and Samuel weren't quite so wobbly, they probably would have attempted to stop him. As it was they just watched dumbly as he picked it up.

"Mary left with John, where would they have gone?"

Samuel shook his head.

"Come on man." Dean's grip on the gun tightened. "You had that thing inside you; you've got to know he's going to go after her."

Samuel grimaced, but it was Deanna who answered.

"The river. I'm pretty sure John's planning to propose to her, and he'd do it at the river, near the bridge."

"Thanks."

"Hey." Dean paused at Samuel's word. "What did he mean; you're someone's psychic kid?

Dean shook his head. He did not have the time to explain about being the chosen warrior of an angel who was pretending to be a pagan god, which gave him an increased ability to fight off magic through an application of will. Though to be honest, he suspected that a good dose of dumb luck had been partially responsible for what had just happened.

"Let me get Mary back first, and then I'll explain." Rapidly running out of time, he headed for the door.

"When you get back you can explain the grandson part too." Samuel yelled out after him, slumping once the younger hunter was gone. Even being ridden by that thing for a short time had exhausted him. He looked up at his wife. "Help me stand.

She hauled him to his feet. "I take it we're going after him?"

Samuel laughed. "Was there ever any doubt."

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John was just proposing to Mary when black smoke poured into the Impala through the vents.

"No! John, get out!" Mary forced the heavy door of the Impala open and almost fell out of the car. She barely managed to kept her feet under her as she staggered a few steps away from the vehicle before turning back to look at it.

John hadn't gotten out.

She stood there for a few seconds, frozen, only moving to step back when the driver's side door finally creaked open.

John stepped out of the car and smiled at her. "Mary, it's okay. It was just a problem with the heater."

Shaking her head, she took another step back.

John sighed. "Not buying it, huh? Oh well."

"Get out of him."

John or rather the thing wearing John smiled at her. Her skin tried to find a safe place to crawl off to at the expression.

"Let's not be hasty, sweetie." He pulled open the jacket he was wearing and she could blood staining his shirt and the top of his jeans. "Nice thing about mechanics, they've always got tools around." He pulled a bloodied screwdriver out of his coat pocket to show her before letting it drop to the ground.

"No." The word was a moan, and held within it the loss of everything.

""Fraid so. Of course, I'd be willing to fix this and vacate your little boyfriend… for a price." He gave her another one of those smiles. "Heck, I'll even scrub his memory of this little incident. " He tilted his head, as if needing to see her face at a different angle. "It's what you want, isn't it. Happily ever after with the white picket fence, a station wagon and a couple of kids. No more hunting, no more fear."

Tears were running down her face and she didn't seem to be able to look away from the blood staining John's clothing. "What? And all it will cost is my soul?"

He shook his head. "Oh, no, you can keep your soul. All I need is permission."

A weird kind of hope seemed to clutch at her heart, even though she knew it was probably false.

"Permission?" She asked. "For what?"

"Mmm, in ten years I need to swing by your house for a little something."

"For what?" She asked again, emphasizing each word.

"Relax. As long as I'm not interrupted, nobody gets hurt." He winked at her. "I promise."

She swallowed, fighting the desire to start screaming. She had the feeling that if she started, she wouldn't be able to stop.

"Or you can spend the rest of your life desperate and alone."

Fresh tears came, along with the sound of a car racing down the dirt road towards where they were parked.

The thing wearing John looked toward the sound, disgust plain on his face.

"Better decide soon, 'cause it looks like this deal has a time limit."

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Dean pulled up to see his mom and dad kissing. For a moment, he thought everything was all right.

Then John turned to look at him, his eyes yellow and a greasy smile on his face.

"No!" He got out of the car, Colt in hand. Azazel's smile widened, just before he opened John's mouth and smoked out of the body.

Mary held John up, a panicked expression on her face. She'd started to lose her grip on him when he gasped and breathed in. A quick glance down at his now bloodless shirt told her that one part of the bargain had just been paid out.

Now she had ten years to worry about the other half.


	27. Chapter 27

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Author's note: Sorry, not as much change as I suspect everyone was hoping for.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 27

Deanna slammed on the brakes, throwing gravel from the tires as she stopped the car next to Deans. The young man gave her a lost look before turning back to watch John and Mary.

She examined the young couple herself. John appeared to be standing upright only because Mary was half propping him up. As for her daughter, she wouldn't meet the eyes of either of her parents and her expression was a mix of guilt and resolve.

Deanna had just gotten out of the car when she noticed another man, wearing a trench coat and standing slightly behind Dean. She jerked slightly, because she didn't think he'd been there a moment ago. As she watched, he put his hand on the hunter's shoulder and the young man twisted his head around to look at him, the lost expression still on his face.

Then they were gone.

"Damn it."

Deanna gave her husband a glance, both for the swearing and to make sure he wasn't going to end up flat on his face. He was standing on his own, but looked like he could use as much help as John was getting.

"Mary."

The girl swallowed. "John proposed to me tonight. I said yes."

Deanna had her hand on her husbands arm, stopping him before he said something he wouldn't be able to take back.

Besides, they had more to worry about than her daughter getting married and quitting hunting. By the young couples expressions it was obvious that John had no idea what was happening beyond a family spat.

And Mary still wouldn't look them in the eye.

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Sam nearly tripped over the threshold to their motel room as he came back in from searching the town for his brother. Dean was asleep on the bed with Cas sitting on the end of the mattress, watching him.

"Where the hell have you been?" He asked Cas, his voice a whispered hiss.

The angel gave him a look that Sam found unfathomable, although Dean would have been able to read the message it contained.

"Your question used the wrong adverb."

Sam didn't get to ask him what he meant by that, as Dean suddenly gasped and woke up. He sat up and looked at Cas.

"I couldn't stop it. She still made the deal. She still died in the nursery, didn't she?" Dean grimaced, as if he were in pain.

"Dean?" Sam asked worriedly, before Cas could answer his brother's question.

Dean dropped his head into his hands. "Crap, some of my memories have two sets."

Cas nodded. "I thought they might. You were unable to stop Azazel, but you did change things."

"Hey!"

Dean and Cas both looked at Sam.

"Explanation, now." Sam sat down on his bed and glared at the two of them.

Dean swung his legs to the edge of the bed and sat up. "Okay, but not until we're on the road. We need to go see Deanna."

Sam frowned. 'You want to go visit Grandma?"

Dean snorted and rubbed at his head. "Yeah, I want to go to Grandma's place. 'Cause we've got a lot to talk about."

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Two days later, Dean stared at his Grandmother as she stood on the porch of her home in Lawrence, Kansas.

Deanna Campbell was a formidable woman in her seventies, who, through exercise, good genes and the regular application of hair dye, could still pass for being in her late fifties to early sixties.

Dean's second set of memories informed him that when Dad had taken off with Sam and Dean, after Mary and Samuel's deaths in the nursery fire (another difference to wonder about), she had eventually tracked him down. It had taken close to a year, and she'd never explained how she'd found him, but she had.

Dean rubbed his forehead as the two sets of memories tried to fight it out. There wasn't a huge change in what he knew, but he suspected that there was a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes that he'd never realized was there

"Sam, Dean." She nodded to each of them. "Been awhile. In fact, if it wasn't for Bobby I wouldn't know the two of you were even alive."

Dean winced at the slight edge of frost in her tone, because it was mostly for him. Every fight she and Dad had had about what he was doing to his sons had ended up alienating Dean from her, because he would always take his father's side. The thing was that Dean now knew what life had been like when there hadn't been a grandmother around.

Long stretches where Dad didn't show up for days past when he'd said he would return with food running out had still happened. However, they had happened far less with Deanna around. She'd even driven out to them a few times when one of them had gotten sick while Dad was away. Also, John was crap at celebrating birthdays, but she remembered them. While they were kids, she had never forgotten to call and wish them a Happy Birthday and had even sent them cards with money in them when they stayed in one place long enough for her to do so.

There had even been a few Christmases that were actually Christmas.

It still wasn't what one would call a great childhood, but having her around made it better than it had been.

Thankfully, her presence hadn't changed their relationship with Bobby. He didn't think he could take losing their connection to the grumpy old hunter even if it did gain them a little more family stability. That tie had been built and remained because there were times that Deanna and John were barely speaking to each other and the boys had instead been left with Bobby, Caleb and Pastor Jim.

Dean suspected that he would be sorting everything out in his head for some time to come, but what he really wanted an answer for right now was why Deanna had never admitted to being a hunter.

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Grandma Campbell handed each of her grandsons Holy water laced coffee and waited for them to take a sip before sitting down at the table with them. The eldest, Dean, set his cup down with a chuckle.

"What?" She asked as she took a sip of her own drink.

"I just realized that you and Bobby share a similar state of paranoia, only you've been pulling it off without being obvious." He studied her face for a moment. "Why didn't you ever tell us that you and grandpa and mom were hunters?"

Sam gave his brother a look, but didn't say anything. On the two-day drive over Dean had told him about his trip to the past and what had changed now because of it.

Deanna breathed out and stared into her cup. "So, it finally happened." She looked up at the boys. "You finally went back and tried to change things."

"Yeah, well…" Dean finished of his coffee in one gulp. "Wasn't exactly my idea."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "So, whose idea was it? The demon that possessed your grandfather, he apparently knew what it was."

Dean hesitated. His doubled memories told him that they had never told her about Sam dying, or Dean's deal to bring him back, or Cas and the mess they were now in and he'd have liked to have kept it that way. However, hunters not having the information they needed tended to create dead hunters. She at least needed to know the basics of what was going on.

"It was an angel."

Their grandmother snorted and turned to Sam, expecting to get the truth from him. Her expression faltered slightly as the look on his face told her that it was the truth. "Damn, so that's why Bobby was researching them a few months ago."

They looked at her, surprised.

"What? I have grandsons who are hunters and offered to help him with research now and then."

"So he doesn't know about you being a hunter?"

"No. So, angels."

"You're taking that revelation fairly well." Sam said, frowning.

She snorted again. "I'm too old and practical to be awed by the thought of a celestial being. Besides, fat lot of good they did. They sent you back and you still couldn't change anything."

The implication that he had been useless stung and Dean just barely managed to squash down on the need to lash back.

Sam didn't.

"You're here, aren't you?"

"What?" She looked from him to Dean, who was busy messing with the coffee pot and wouldn't look at her. "Dean, what did he mean by that?"

Her oldest grandson threw his brother an annoyed look, before answering her. "The first time around, you and grandpa…" He shook his head, unwilling to tell her that in one set of his memories, he'd never known her growing up.

Her gaze was fixed somewhere off in middle space. "We died."

Finally, he looked at her. "Yeah. He, the demon, he killed both of you and mom made the deal and she didn't know what for until the night she burned." He frowned in thought for a moment. "Did she this time?"

Deanna nodded as she poured herself another cup of coffee. "Even if your grandfather hadn't remembered that much from being possessed, I was there to hear what it said." She sighed. "Not that knowing made it possible to stop him."

Sam looked uncomfortable. "That's why grandpa was at the house that night, he was waiting for him."

Deanna nodded. "Yes." She took one look at his expression and gave him a swat. "It wasn't your fault, it was the demons. As for your grandfather, he was a hunter. Trying to stop it was his job."

Sam shook his head. "The family business."

She patted his hand. "Yeah."

Dean took a deep breath. "How come you never told us?"

She sighed. "Before the demon came, I always wanted to tell your father what was going on, but Mary and Samuel wouldn't hear of it." She laughed, although the sound had little of humour in it. "The man your father became, him Samuel would have told, but I couldn't. He loved your mom. I couldn't let him know how much she had been keeping from him. It was bad enough when he figured out about the deal. I was afraid that knowing Mary had been a hunter and had never told him would have destroyed him."

Both brothers had to concede, she was probably right.

"So, do I want to know how you got mixed up with angels?"

Sam and Dean attempted to smile at her question. What came out was more of a grimace.

"Ah, no?"

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Castiel stared straight ahead, as Zachariah paced back and forward in front of him. Two days Earth time had passed since the trip back in time and Cas had begun to think that his superior had somehow forgotten the incident. Now he realized that the other angel had been trying to undermine Castiel's confidence and make him fearful and defensive by having him wait this long to report.

He'd forgotten some of the petty little games the Cherubim used to play.

Zachariah stopped in front of Castiel, crowding his personal space. This was something Cas had never really noticed before, having little concept of it until after he'd met Dean.

"This is unacceptable Castiel. It's a complete mess. He was supposed to go back and learn a few simple truths, not change things."

"Technically, him being there changed things from the very beginning." Castiel replied blandly.

Zachariah frowned at him. "Those changes were small enough that time would eventually smooth them out."

Cas barely managed to keep his emotions suppressed. He harboured a great deal of doubt about what Dean may have changed by being there and his own part in it.

"The fact that the Winchester's grandparents survived the night and one of them is now still alive also seems to have changed little."

Zachariah's face twisted up in a frown and he started pacing again. He could hardly go explaining to Castiel that having another family connection in their lives had caused the Winchesters to be more emotionally balanced. While they were still completely devoted to each other, they lacked many of the psychological buttons that he'd intended to push. Manoeuvring them into their places and getting them to say yes would be more complicated now. Even getting Dean back into Hell to break the first seal was going to be a bitch and that additional problem was all because the angel in front of him had gone and screwed up a perfectly good plan.

Hmm, come to think of it, he'd also screwed up the visit to the past as well.

"I apologise for the errors, although I would like to remind you that I did argue against the time travel."

Zachariah's frown turned into a glare.

Unfazed, Castiel continued. "Given that Dean would acquire little in useful information from it; I felt that it was an unacceptable risk to undertake."

The older angel ground his teeth together, because Castiel was right, which made the situation more insufferable.

"Well, it's done, so there's little we can do about it." He gave the angel in front of him a considering look. "Perhaps you should take up your regular duties again."

Castiel blinked at the suggestion. He must have annoyed Zachariah more than he'd expected if he was already attempting to separate him from the Winchesters. Originally, it had been months before they had suspected him of having… sympathies. After that, they had kept a watch on him before eventually dragging him back to Heaven for re-education.

This time if they attempted that they would be in for a very large surprise. Not only was he far stronger than they believed him to be, but he already had spells set and hidden within him that would leave him the last man standing in any such attack.

"Castiel!"

He blinked again. "Sorry, I was just contemplating who would be best to replace me in my duties with the Winchesters."

It was Zachariah's turn to blink.

"If Uriel was not currently protecting the prophet, I would have suggested him."

Not!

"Dean has already met Rachel, and she is very capable."

And the brothers and she would be ready to kill each other in something less than an hour, if their meeting in the original time line was anything to go by.

"I believe that there are two or three younger members of the garrison that could do the job and should be allowed the experience of working on Earth."

And Dean would have them mentally twisted into pretzels in three days or less.

Cas frowned as he tried to think of who else he could suggest that would sound perfectly reasonable, and would turn out to be perfectly dreadful or unavailable to take over his duty. He stopped when Zachariah held up his hand.

"Perhaps I was being too hasty. For now, why don't you see if you can keep up with some of your usual duties while shadowing the brothers? If it becomes a problem, then we can see about getting you an assistant."

Castiel was certain that assistant really translated out to spy, but he didn't let that knowledge show. Instead, he bowed slightly. "Of course."

Zachariah turned to other work, signalling that their discussion was at an end.

With a thought, Cas took himself to where the Winchesters were, but held himself invisible. He was only intending to check that they were currently safe before going to deal with a few of those 'duties'.

When he arrived, they were cowering in front of an older, blonde woman. It took him a moment to realize that she must be their grandmother and another to wonder if the changes Dean had made had been to the good.

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Okay, so maybe finally telling grandma that one of her grandsons had died and the other had gone and sold his soul to bring him back and then had died himself but came back because of an angel (yes, in true Winchester fashion, they didn't tell her the whole truth) hadn't been the smartest thing they could have done.

"Stupid."

"Gran." Sam said, trying to derail her rant.

"Idiotic."

"Hey!" Dean made his own attempt to stop her.

"Self sacrificing."

Dean winced.

"Winchesters!"

"Should I be stopping her?"

All three of them started at the voice to the side of them and turned towards it. Sam and Dean were startled a second time as they noticed that Deanna appeared to have pulled a sawed off shotgun out of thin air and was now aiming it at the being in the trench coat

"Gran, don't!" Winchester stereo struck again.

"Who the hell are you?" She asked, ignoring her grandsons.

"I am Castiel."

She lowered the gun slightly. "You're an Angel of the Lord?" She asked, her voice disbelieving.

"Yes."

"Then wait your turn."

'My turn?"

"Yes, I'll yell at you about the time travel once I'm done with these two mindless idiots."

Perhaps he should have stayed invisible after all.

"Gran." Sam gave her his best puppy dog eyes and she snorted, fighting their power for a moment before slumping and giving in.

"I'm amazed that I made it to my seventies without the two of you giving me a heart attack."

They both shrugged.

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Castiel was thinking about discretely disappearing, when something pinged on what could probably best be described as his passive radar. He turned to Mrs. Campbell.

"How well protected is this home?"

She raised an eyebrow. "From?"

"Demons."

"Cas?" Dean made a question of his name and Castiel moved his attention to him.

"There are two demons outside." He tilted his head, appearing to look at something they couldn't see. "They are in a car across the street from the house."

Dean groaned. "Crap, they must have followed us." He gave Cas an annoyed look. "I thought those new hex bags you gave us were supposed to work as well as the old ones."

Cas nodded. "Yes. It is more likely that they found you by 'lucking out'."

Deanna shook her head. "Well, don't just stand there. You two are the active hunters, so go hunt them."

The brothers looked at each other. Sam looked a little worried. Dean smirked.

"Hey Cas?" Dean's smirk got wider.

"Yes?"

"Wanna help us with them?"

Technically, he would be expected to stay above the average hunts that the brothers would undertake. However…

Despite his outward appearance, the meeting with Zachariah still grated on his nerves. So, getting the chance to send a couple of demons screaming all the way back to Hell…

Cas' answer was a small smile that held within it an echo of Dean's smirk.


	28. Chapter 28

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 28

Demon minions often come off as looming slabs that play bodyguard to their more actively psychotic masters. However, when two demons have orders to watch a target, but not engage them and they can't go giving themselves away by finding their own fun while they wait, they will eventually break down and talk to each other.

After two days on the road, they had already covered sins, depraved acts, favourite kills and just how many uses there are for the human spine once it's been pulled from a still screaming body. Therefore, it wasn't surprising that eventually they would go on to other, less work related topics.

"You honestly expect me to even entertain the belief that an impossibly super strong alien, with x-ray vision, super speed, laser eyes, the ability to fly and more, could possibly be taken down by a guy with a utility belt?" The demon who was currently sitting on the driver's side of the car asked.

"Yes." Said the demon on the passenger side, who had his attention on his partner, rather than on the house they were staking out.

"Why?"

The demon looked at him as if he were long past brain dead and shook his head. "Because, he's Batman!"

"Truer words."

Both demons froze and turned to look in the backseat.

One of the guys they were following was sitting back there, a wry grin on his face. The person sitting next to him…wasn't a person.

"Crap." To be honest, they both very nearly did. "Angel."

They were fumbling for the door handles when a hand slammed down on the back of their necks and they were suddenly yanked sideways through inner space so fast the bodies they were in couldn't pull in air to breathe.

A moment later, they dropped unceremoniously into a large devils trap that had been painted onto the floor of what appeared to be an empty two-car garage.

The other, taller guy they had been following was standing outside the circle, holding a book and waiting for them.

"Hey. Do you know that this summer I tested over twenty different exorcisms?" The guy asked them, the smile on his face almost… kind.

"Ah…" The two demons looked at each other. "Okay."

The guy's expression went hard. "So let me introduce you to the one that will send you back to Hell by ripping you apart pain filled atom by pain filled atom." He opened the book and paged through it until he found what he was looking for.

"Oh, if you're willing to answer our questions for a switch to the fast version, then let me know before the start of the second hour. After that, you won't be able to stop screaming long enough to actually talk to us."

Both demons squared up in front of him. They had been through centuries of torture in the pit. Some piddling little ritual was not going to get the best of them.

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Twenty minutes later, after having searched and gotten rid of the demons' car, Dean and Cas walked into the garage and moved to stand by Sam as he watched their two guests writhe inside the devil's trap. Black wisps of smoke were being leached out of their bodies, their skin lighting up everywhere it was pulled from.

Outwardly dispassionate, the two hunters and one angel observed them for a few minutes.

Dean glanced at his watch. "Hey, is this the same exorcism that you did over in Idaho?"

Sam nodded.

Castiel tilted his head as one of the demons started to slam its head against the floor. With a gripping motion, he froze the creature in place to stop it from further harming the body it was using.

Dean frowned at the sight. "Doesn't this one take twelve hours to complete?"

Sam nodded. "Uh, huh."

The other demon moaned, his teeth clenching as he tried to hold it in, because he realized that the giant was right, if he started screaming he wouldn't be able to stop.

"You sick bastards…" He had to stop to breathe through the next bolt of pain, which, lucky him, turned out to be one in a series. He jerked as if there were multiple lightening strikes going off under his skin. Panting as they ended, he finally managing to finish what he'd been saying. "You get off on this, don't you?"

He didn't need to have someone freeze him in place as he watched the guy with the green eyes who had been in the back seat of the car with the angel. Somehow, those eyes, which had been amused then, were now shards of ice. His whole expression went cold. So much so that the demon actually shivered as if the temperature had dropped.

"Funny, coming from a demon, but no." Dean told him. "We don't. That doesn't mean we won't stand here for the next eleven and a half hours and watch you scream. Because we're all about doing what needs to be done."

Of course, the only other time Sam had used this exorcism, he'd given up less than an hour into, unable to take even demons being put through that much pain.

Not that they were going to tell these two idiots that.

The demon grit his teeth as several more pieces of him ripped away. Somehow, every time it happened, the pain was worse than the last time. But he could handle it, he could.

It took so little to tip that over to could not.

Held in place by the angel and unable to move, his partner needed someway to physically express his pain.

All of them cringed as he started to scream.

"Cas!" Dean yelled out over the noise.

The angel tightened the mental grip he had on the demon and it fell silent.

"Thought you were going to listen to us scream." The demon asked. His voice was dangerously close to a shriek and he knew unending screaming wasn't far off.

The tallest of them, the bastard who'd set them up in this little piece of Hell on Earth shook his head.

"That only happens if you don't answer the questions."

"And if we do you switch to the fast exorcism?"

Sam nodded.

The demon gasped, his borrowed body seizing as another bit of him pulled away and the pain jacked up one more notch. For a few moments after, he just breathed. "Fuck it, what do you want to know?"

Sam's expression was grim as he crouched down and started to ask.

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The resident was just passing by the entrance to emergency when she noticed the two men… well, walk didn't seem to be the right word, but they both entered through the door in a vertical position.

She stuttered to a stop as she realized that they both had their eyes closed and the way they stood was awkward, as if there were an invisible man standing between them and he was the only thing holding them up.

And then he wasn't.

The two men slumped to the floor. Calling for help, she ran to them. In the noise and confusion that followed, she didn't notice the sound of wings as something left a few moments later.

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Cas arrived back at the garage they'd 'borrowed' just as Dean and Sam finished cleaning the devil's trap from the floor.

"I have delivered them to the Emergency ward at the hospital. There were doctors helping them before I left."

Dean nodded. It wasn't everyday that the victims were still alive after the demons had been kicked out of them. Hopefully by getting them to the hospital as quickly as Cas did, they'd have the chance to stay alive.

They finished packing up their garbage and headed out. The building was just a couple of houses down from their grandmother's place. Knowing that the neighbours were away, she'd suggested that they do the exorcism there. Since the demons hadn't been very competent at their stakeout, preparing the space quickly before Cas grabbed them had been easy.

Deanna Campbell was waiting for them when they returned to the house.

"Well?"

Dean nodded. "It's done. The poor slobs they'd possessed even survived the exorcism. Cas already dropped them off at a hospital.

She raised an eyebrow. "Handy. So, did you get anything out of the demons before you yanked them out of there?"

"Yeah, turns out an old acquaintance of ours has taken over where Lilith left off. The bi… uh." He paused, censoring himself in front of his grandmother. "She had them keeping an eye on us."

Deanna's eyes widened. "Lilith?"

Dean grimaced. "Yeah. Demon, high level."

"No, really?"

Sam and Dean both winced. Grandma did sarcasm just fine. "She had plans, nasty ones. Ones that included Sam in them… Dean rolled his eyes slightly at the expression on her face, the one that told him she knew he was skating over the facts. "Okay, some of those plans involved me as well. Doesn't matter, 'cause Sam here killed her."

"So." Sam said, quickly changing the subject. "We want to tell Bobby about the Campbell family business."

She thought for a moment, and then nodded. "Fine." She smiled. "Let me know if he's actually surprised by it."

They looked at her questioningly.

"I've always wondered if he suspected, but wasn't willing to ask."

Dean had to laugh. Knowing Bobby, it was a definite possibility.

"So, are you boys going to be in town for a while?"

"Just for a couple of days. We have to be in Minnesota after that."

"A hunt?"

"Uh. " The brothers looked at each other, each of them trying to stare the other into explaining Adam to their grandmother.

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Deanna took the news about the boys having a half brother better than they thought she would. Mary was her daughter after all, but she'd had the experience of being a widow for just as long as their father had been a widower. Eventually, you have to do something to fight the loneliness.

Didn't mean she wasn't annoyed at their father for keeping it a secret. Sometimes she really wished that John was still alive, if just so she could kick him in the pants.

xxxxxxxx

Bobby swore when they told him about Deanna. Yeah, he'd had his suspicions about the lady, but he'd never followed them all the way through to Sam and Dean's family on their mother's side being hunters.

When Dean ended the call, the older hunter was muttering about all the times he could have saved himself a crap load of annoyance, by getting Deanna to do some of the more specialized research for him.

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Adam taped the last box shut and looked around his room. It still had a lot of stuff in it, since he'd be coming home for holidays and summers for years to come. However, it also had an empty feeling to it, as if he'd pulled the guts out of it to leave nothing but a shell.

"Adam."

He was pulled out of his depressed musing by his mother's voice. "Yeah?" He called out to her.

"Sam and Dean are here."

He smiled. His brothers had missed the packing, but they had made it in time to help him schlep everything out to his truck. Over the phone last night, they'd even offered to stuff what they could into the Impala and do the six plus hour drive with him. He'd told them they didn't have to, but Dean said he wasn't going to miss out on a second brother's move to a place of higher learning.

Sam had just said something about Dean not wanting to miss all the opening week parties that would be going on.

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Dean shook his head as he looked over the dorm room. "Damn, and I though we stayed in a small room or two in our day." He looked at his half-brother. "You're really going to do the whole year in this?"

Sam not so very discretely whacked into his brother with one of the boxes he was carrying. "Can it Dean."

The elder Winchester glared at his younger brother and rubbed at the spot on his hip that had met up with the box.

"No fighting." Adam said distractedly as he tried to figure out which bed would be his.

Dean shook his head and then headed down for a second load. When he came out the entrance, he spotted two guys sprinting in the opposite direction from Adam's truck.

"You should have left someone down here to keep an eye on your brother's stuff."

Dean sucked in a breath and slowly turned to see Loki, who was leaning up against the side of the building near the door. Wincing slightly he had to ask. "Do I want to know what you just did to them?"

The trickster seemed to think about it for a moment and then shook his head. "Probably not." He decided against mentioning that they would be fine, just as long as they never attempted to steel anything on campus again.

And really, would it be his fault if they actually did set off the spell he'd tied into that act? He smiled at the thought… an action he noticed seemed to make Dean even more wary than he'd been just a moment ago.

"You… uh, you aren't hanging around a campus again, are you?"

Loki shrugged. "Universities are way too much fun to not mess with them." He smirked at Dean's horrified look. "Don't worry; Adam is off the menu… Besides," He rolled his eyes. "I've been keeping it low key. Cas tends to blow a gasket when I over do it. And yeah, he knows I'm here. He's got this place wired for the supernatural. Anything with mojo that even brushes by this place is coming up on his radar."

Dean let out a semi-relieved breath. Then he smirked. "So, you want to watch the stuff, or help us drag in the boxes?"

Loki shook his head. "Please." He snapped his fingers and then disappeared a moment later. Dean wondered at the brief delay, until he noticed that the boxes in the truck were gone and the distant sounds of two men swearing was coming from an open window above him. He couldn't be certain that it was Adam's room, but it was on the same floor, so it was a good bet.

"Dean!"

Dean half winced and half smirked. Adam would probably never suggest having someone zap something to him ever again. A glance towards the Impala proved that Loki had enough sense to not mess with his baby this time. The back seat was still full of the boxes they'd stacked in there. Fishing his keys out of his pocket, he decided he'd rather deal with dragging the rest of the stuff in over straightening out whatever mess Loki had left them with upstairs.

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Once everything was upstairs, Adam phoned his mom and assured her that they had arrived safe and sound. The three brothers then spent the rest of the day unpacking before going out for a late supper. After, Dean and Sam dropped their younger brother back at the dorms and they found themselves a motel room, paying for several nights. Barring an emergency hunt, they planned to stay a few days while Adam got settled.

They were back at the dorms the next morning. Adam and Sam were busy setting up Adam's computer, while Dean lounged on the bed and looked over the campus map.

"Um. Hi."

All three of them looked up to see someone in the tall and skinny range of human development. As he looked like he had an inch or so on Sam, Dean would have pegged the guy as a basketball player. However, as soon as the kid stepped forward Dean knew he was wrong about that. The awkward giraffe mixed with clumsy ostrich body movements could never survive on a court.

"Hey." Adam said, extricating himself from the octopus of wiring he'd become tangled up in. "You must be my roommate? C. Hayden?"

"Uh, yeah… Cooper, Cooper Hayden."

Dean snorted. "Named after Alice, no doubt."

The guy cringed slightly. "Uh, yeah. My folks were big fans."

Sam looked like he wanted to smack his brother again, but Dean just smiled. "Cool."

The guy blinked and smiled back. "So, you're A. Milligan?" He asked, directing his question to Adam.

He nodded and held out a hand. "Adam. These two are my brothers."

Cooper's handshake was tentative, as if he didn't do it very often.

"So, need any help bringing your stuff in?" Dean asked. Not that he really wanted to carry any more boxes up, but he figured it would be a good way to find something out about the guy that would be sharing a room with his brother.

Cooper shook his head. "No, I don't have a large enough vehicle so I ended up hiring some movers. They should be here at two o'clock."

Dean looked at his watch. "Long wait. Hey, it's almost noon, how about we go get some grub." He picked up the campus map he'd been looking at earlier. "There's a full service student bar pretty close to here and it says they serve lunch." He looked at Cooper. "Our treat."

"Oh…Um, I didn't expect…"

Adam narrowed his eyes at his brothers, knowing they planned to pump the poor kid for every bit of information they could get out of him. He felt a brief stab of younger brother annoyed at overprotective older brotherness, before admitting to himself that he actually kind of liked it. Also, he wouldn't mind finding out something about his roomy in the process.

"It's a good idea. Besides, we should hammer out our privacy issues ahead of time."

Cooper nodded. "Yeah, okay."

On their way out to the car, Dean threw a look at Sam, who nodded back.

By this time tomorrow, he'd have the entire life and times of Cooper Hayden printed out so they could go over it in fine detail.

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Adam waved as his brothers drove out of sight. All told, they'd been here for four days, which was longer than he'd expected them to hang out. Once they'd okayed his roommate, had warned him that Loki might be wandering around the area and had demon and creature proofed the dorm room as much as possible, they'd gone over the campus with him, pointing out all of the danger spots that would invite attack from both human and supernatural opponents.

Adam didn't know if he should laugh or cringe. He had never met anyone as hyper aware of their surroundings as his brothers were. They seemed to notice even the smallest threat of danger. Before, he'd have thought that always being that much on the look out would be crippling. But apparently, to them it was second nature. So much so that they only noticed it subconsciously and reacted without having to think about it.

In the end, the move went fairly well. The hardest part had been explaining the salt in the room to Cooper. He now believed that Adam had a severe ant phobia and was using the salt to keep them out of the room. It was a little annoying, but he could hardly tell him that his true phobias were the things that go grr, rip, and rend you in half in the night.


	29. Chapter 29

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 29

It was official. If he looked over one more cold case, filed one more pointless report, he would go stark raving out of his mind.

Henricksen shoved the file folder he was holding into the filing box a little (okay, a lot) harder than necessary. His partner was still laid up and he was still on desk duty. Fact was he got the feeling that if they could manage it, they would leave him on desk duty until he retired, which was a long ways off.

He was inches away from saying screw it and going for a very long lunch break. A few years long. He sighed. It was days like these that he really wished he could be more of a goof off. But he couldn't, so instead he sat back down at his desk and picked up the next file.

Arson… He frowned. Why was this even on his desk? He flipped to the next page of the report. Great, arson that couldn't even be proved to be arson… Again, why was this considered a cold case and why was it on his desk?

He turned the page, and found out.

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SSA Taylor almost groaned when he saw Henricksen coming his way. Once a week at least the desk bound agent tried to get himself back on the active roster. God knows, he had tried, if just to stop the weekly arguments he had with the man. However, every recommendation he'd put forward to that end had been quashed.

For today's argument, he decided he'd start on the offensive. "No Victor, you can't do follow up on whatever new lead you think you've found in one of the cold cases. Pass it on to the investigating agents." He looked up at Henricksen and noticed the man was frowning at him.

"What?"

Henricksen handed him a holiday request form. Taylor looked at it, surprised. The last time Victor had taken time off it had been compassionate leave after the police station in Monument had gone up in the gas explosion and they'd pretty much had to force him to take it.

"I'd like three weeks off, starting tomorrow."

The supervisory agent shook his head. "Victor, vacation requests of that length need to be…" His voice tapered off as he realized that Henricksen was poised to do something. Not violence, but something extreme and irrevocable all the same. "But since you're on desk duty anyway, I guess it isn't important this time. Enjoy your time off."

"Thank you sir."

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As Victor walked away, he stopped long enough to shove the resignation form, the one that he would have handed his supervisor if he hadn't gotten the holiday time, into a shredder. For a moment, he watched the paper as it was reduced to confetti, recognizing that one of these days he would close the door on this part of his life with nothing more than paper and ink.

He snorted at himself for the poetically depressed nonsense he'd just came up with and then headed back to his desk. The file about the suspected arson fire at a roadhouse frequented by known felons, such as the now 'dead' Winchester brothers sat there. He dropped it into the middle of a pile of other cold case files and locked them into the bottom drawer of his desk. He'd spent enough time studying. It was time to remind himself of what was really out there in the dark. It was also time to follow up on some of the contacts Bobby had sent him, and after what he'd read, Ellen Harvelle seemed like a good one to start with.

And if he couldn't track her down, then maybe he'd see about checking in with the first name on his list, even if Bobby had put 'grumpy bastard' and 'bring scotch' down beside the name Rufus Turner.

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Boris looked up to see what he could only describe as a dapper gentleman, standing in the middle of the old warehouse that he and the rest of his nest were using as living space and food storage. The guy, whose blood smelled almost as dangerous as a dead man's, smirked at said food. Their chains rattled when they flinched away from him. He smiled even wider at the reaction before bringing his full attention back to Boris.

"Nice setup. You might want to consider expanding your membership though." He glanced at a couple of the older members of the nest that bore more of a resemblance to nosferatu than the current romantic idea of a vampire. "You'll get more tasty treats with eye candy than you would with the silent film crowd here."

The man rolled his eyes when one of the vampires hissed at the insult and while Boris agreed that it was a stereotypical thing for a vampire to do, he'd already had enough of this ass.

"Who the hell are you?"

The guy smiled. "Name's Crowley and I am…strangely enough… looking to hire you." He looked around. "Or one of your people."

Boris crossed his arms over his motorcycle jacket covered chest. "And why would we do that. In fact, why would we do anything other than kill you?"

The same hissing idiot from before decided that was his cue and leapt at the man. Crowley sidestepped the attack, waving his hand at the creature as it passed him.

The vampire promptly burst into flames.

Crowley stepped away from the thrashing bloodsucker on the floor and the vampires that were trying to put him out. He watched for a moment, amused and then turned back to Boris. "I believe that answers your question."

Boris briefly calculated his odds of survival if he jumped the guy and attempted to rip out his heart.

"The odds are crap luv, believe me." Crowley said with a smirk. He didn't have to read the vampire's mind to know what was going through it.

Boris' face screwed up in a grimace. "What's the job… and what's the pay?" 

"The job is simple. I need someone turned." The demon handed the vampire a mug shot photo of Dean Winchester.

"Hmm." Boris nodded. "He's pretty."

Crowley smirked. "As for the pay…" He named a sum of money that the vampire appeared to appreciate. "Of course, if you'd like something else, something more intangible, I may be able to arrange that instead."

"Why come to me for this?"

Crowley gave him a half shrug. "You're one of the oldest vampires in North America. Figured if anyone had a chance at doing this job right, it would be you."

The vampire had to wonder if that was flattery or honest truth. The guy seemed like he would be good at the first and crap at the second. Boris looked at the photo again. He didn't trust the 'man' in front of him, but that didn't mean they couldn't come to a mutually beneficial arrangement. Besides, even without payment, the job did appear to have its own built in perks.

Boris nodded and met Crowley's eyes with his own. "Deal."

He was a little startled when the guy kissed him, but all in all, he didn't mind.

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Since they were already in Wisconsin, Dean managed to talk Sam into heading over to Green Bay, to take in a Packer's game. Not that either of them were extreme football fans, except maybe when it came to the Jayhawks, but they were close by, the season was just starting and there was a lull in supernatural activity going on. Might as well get in a little R and R while they could.

Dean was off at the souvenir stand, buying a giant foam hand while Sam stood in another line, waiting to buy some overpriced hamburgers and fries. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed someone walking by who suddenly screeched to a halt. For a brief moment, Sam held out hope that the guy had stopped because he really wanted a hamburger.

"Sam?"

No such luck.

Sam looked up and blinked at who he saw in front of him.

"Brady?"

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Giant foam hand purchased, Dean started to make his way back to his brother. One thing about someone being as tall as Sam is, it was hard to lose him in a crowd.

He wasn't surprised to find him still in line for the food. He was surprised to find him passing the time talking with someone.

"Hey."

"Hey Dean, meet Brady. We were at Stanford together."

The guy stuck out his hand. "It's nice to finally meet Sam's brother."

Dean juggled the foam hand into his left arm and shook the guy's real hand.

"Brady was just telling me that his company is renting a viewing suite for the game and they have a couple of empty seats if we want them."

"It's got an incredible view of the field and the company is paying for the food and drinks."

"Well, I'm not one to say no to free food, or an open bar."

As Brady led the way, Dean and Sam looked at each other. They said a lot in that short time, none of it vocal, but they each knew what was said. Sam managed to wipe the sour look off his face before they arrived at the suite.

It was one of the larger rooms and had about twenty people in it. Clothing style was mostly dressy casual, with a few suits mixed in like a handful of raisins in cookie dough.

"Oh, grub." Dean moved to the buffet, his whole attention apparently taken up with the food. Sam threw a slightly annoyed look his way and allowed Brady to show him to one of the viewing seats. "So," Sam asked, once they were both seated. "You said your company is paying for this?"

Brandy nodded. "Yeah, Niveus Pharmaceuticals. The headquarters are actually in California, but one of the owners is a huge Packers' fan. He writes a few of these trips off a year as team building exercises."

Sam laughed, since is seemed required of him at that point. "So, what do you do for them?"

"I'm in distribution. Got a very good chance of making the VP position in the next year or so."

"Wow, I'm impressed." Sam told him, meaning it.

"You know," Brady said, smiling at him. "I owe it all to you. If you hadn't been there to pull me out of my own crap back when I attempted to self destruct, then I'd probably be lucky to be alive, much less working at a place like Niveus."

Sam briefly clasped him on the shoulder. "Hey, that's what friends are for."

"So, what have you been up to? I know you never came back to Stanford, but did you finish up your schooling somewhere else?"

Dean chose that moment to sit down beside them and pass Sam a plate filled with everything healthy he could find on the buffet table, along with a couple things he thought his brother should try.

"The samosas are incredible."

And deep fried and about two and a half sizes larger than the ones for sale in most grocery stores.

A brief look of annoyance moved fleetingly across Brady's face at the interruption, before he smiled and went to get his own food.

"Soooo." Dean asked quietly, drawing the word out. "Demon, creature or law enforcement?"

Sam gnawed on a carrot stick and shook his head. "Not sure." He looked over at his old friend. "You wouldn't consider coincidence, would you?"

Dean gave his brother a look. Sam sighed, but nodded. He didn't believe it either. They watched Brady schmooze with a couple of people at the buffet.

Dean stuffed a mini pizza into his mouth, chewing widely. "Want to run a test?"

Sam looked at him disgustedly. "Want to not speak with your mouth full?"

Dean swallowed. "You can keep hoping. So, test?"

Sam shook his head. "Too many people. Don't want anyone to get hurt if he reacts to silver, or Holy water or us saying Christo."

The three closest football fans, which both brothers had thought were out of earshot, flinched.

In sync, Sam and Dean mouthed a very bad word.

They turned to look at Brady as he sat down beside them with a sigh. He returned their scrutiny and chuckled lightly.

"Yep, it's as bad as you think it is."

Dean put his now almost empty plate of food to the side with a vaguely nauseous expression on his face.

"Everyone here is a demon." He said.

"Mmm."

"And the food?"

Brady looked a little surprised. "Oh, no. The food's fine. We weren't really intending for you to go and blow our covers."

"How long?" Sam asked, his gaze fixed firmly on the floor.

"How… Oh, how long have I been a demon?" Brady smirked. "Come on Sam, it can't be that hard to figure out. We were just talking about it."

"Thanksgiving. You came back from break screwed up."

"Yeah. Dropped out of Pre-Med. Drugs, parties, bitches." He sighed again. "College really was a lot of fun."

"So," Dean asked. "What was with this little get together? Were you planning on taking us out by feeding and entertaining us until we couldn't stand it anymore?"

Brady laughed and the football fans fixed their attention on the three of them. A quick look proved that every eye in the place had turned black.

"No. I was just supposed to connect with Sam here. Try and work my way back into your lives enough that maybe I could push him in the right direction."

Sam glared at him. "What direction was that?"

"Ah, doesn't matter. We'll take the second prize. Keep you and kill your brother here."

The brothers tried to stand, but they were forced back into their seats and each of them was held down by a couple of the demons that were wearing suits.

"Yeah see, with any luck old Dean here will end up right back in Hell and you Sam… well, we've got other plans for you."

One of the casually dressed demons walked over and handed Brady the carving knife, which had been on the buffet table for the roast. Dean struggled briefly and then slumped.

"Don't suppose you'd give me a moment to pray?"

Several of the demons snorted with laughter, Brady included. "You think God is listening?"

"Actually, I'm a pagan."

Brady looked surprised. "Really?" His face twisted up into a smirk. "What the hell. Should be good for a laugh."

Dean shrugged out of the grip the demons had on him, glanced at his brother who looked confused, and then put his hands together.

"Dear Kaseva… Who's probably going to be somewhat annoyed with me. Sam and I are surrounded by twenty demons and I'm about to be carved up for sandwiches. So, if you're listening, we could really use a little divine intervention. Ah…Roger and out."

When Dean looked up, he realized that every demon in the place was staring at him, stunned.

Brady shook his head, as if to clear it. "That has got to be the worst excuse for a prayer I've ever heard."

Dean looked mildly affronted.

A huff of laughter came from the direction of the room's door. "I have told him something similar, although this one was actually better than some." The voice was deep and harsh. More so in fact that it normally was, although only Sam and Dean could have told them that.

Every eye turned to look. A living shadow stood by the door, a near featureless void that seemed to suck the heat from the room simply by existing.

"Who the hell are you?" Brady asked.

The figure tilted its head. "Kaseva." And then he raised his hand.

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Brady pulled himself up off the ground and collapsed into a chair. A glance around the room proved that most of the others were still unconscious and the suits that had been holding on to the Winchesters were dead. He suspected that if he hadn't thrown himself out of the line of fire that he'd have been just as deceased.

Naturally, Sam and Dean were gone.

Brady groaned and dropped his face into his hands. "Crap. I cannot believe that that prayer actually worked." He groaned again as he realized what Meg would no doubt do to him for losing them.

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Dean watched Sam as he paced back and forward in the loft apartment. When that got boring, he turned his attention to the space they were in. It was very hip, with concrete, chrome and black leather the main decorating features of the place.

"Where are we?"

"My safe house in New York."

Dean turned to look at the angel beside him, who now looked like the Cas he knew and not like a Cas shaped black hole.

Briefly, they both turned their attention back to Sam, who had started cursing under his breath.

"How many of these places do you have anyway?"

"Six, if you include the cabin in Colorado."

Dean nodded and looked around a little more. "I've just been wondering, since when do angels do interior decorating?"

He glanced at Castiel, who looked vaguely uncomfortable.

"Cas?"

"When I started building these places, I looked at a few magazines to get ideas for them."

"What like…Martha Stewart?"

Cas gave a slight cough, as if he needed to clear his throat. "Yes, them and others. They can be quite engrossing."

"Remind me to get you a subscription to a much better magazine."

Sam laughed. Apparently, their conversation had broken his aggravation. "Busty Asian Beauties is not a better magazine, Dean."

"Yeah, right."

It was Sam's turn to look the loft over. "How many decorating magazines did you read, anyway?"

Cas shrugged. "I am not certain of the exact count. It was somewhere in the low thousands."

Dean shook his head. "Am so getting you that subscription."

Sam shook his head and sighed. "Cas, did you know about Brady?"

The angel had to search his memory. "Brady. You went to Stanford with him. He turned out to have been a demon much of that time. He was working for Niveus Pharmaceuticals and co-ordinated logistics for the Horsemen after Lucifer rose."

"Horsemen?" Dean asked. "As in the four Horsemen of the apocalypse? Those Horsemen?"

"Yes."

Both brothers paled significantly.

"Don't suppose you managed to kill Brady with that blast thing you did?" Sam asked.

Cas shook his head. "I was only able to burn the demons out of the bodies of the ones that were holding the two of you. The others were probably only rendered unconscious."

Sam frowned. "Why not go for broke and take them all down?"

Cas ignored the idiom, once more getting the gist of it. "The power needed to destroy twenty demons in one push would most likely have killed the two of you as well. The stadium would also have suffered serious structural damage and those in the stands could have been hurt or killed."

Dean grimaced slightly, "Good call then."

Sam appeared to be thinking of something else though. "What happened to Brady in the other time line?"

Cas found he had to dig for that answer. Many of his memories from then lacked the sharp edges of other recollections. He suspected that the loss of his powers at that time had something to do with it.

Still, he managed to dredge up an answer.

"I believe you killed him." Cas shook his head. "I think there was more to it than that. However, I had been injured and had lost most of my powers at that time. Also, I was not present when you confronted him." He thought for a while longer, before giving up on trying to find a memory he obviously didn't have. "Whatever that extra thing was, I am certain that it was not good. The silences you and Dean shared after confronting him were rather telling."

"So, it was bad?" 

Cas nodded. "Very bad."

Sam found a chair and sat down in it, a lost look on his face.

"Sam?"

"I was avoiding thinking about it… but, Brady… He introduced me to Jess, after he was possessed."


	30. Chapter 30

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

New Author's note, please read.: I have rewritten (tweaked) the last section of this chapter, because even though I didn't intend something, it was coming out that way. I know it bothered a few people, and once it was pointed out to me and I realized I would have to use an author's note to make things clear, it really began to eat at me. So I've changed it a bit in the hopes that this will work better. Thanks for reading.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 30

Cas knew Dean well enough to know that he would go back for the Impala, so he transported the car to them shortly after they arrived. It was better than leaving it in Green Bay, where the demons would probably be waiting for them to return for it.

The New York safe house was in an abandoned warehouse on the waterfront. The ground floor of the brick building had been constructed to accommodate trucks being driven into it, so he stored the car inside, near one of the loading doors.

The brothers stayed there for a couple of days. Dean used it to catch up on his sleep. Sam spent his time researching Brady and Niveus and a few old classmates that now seemed suspicious in the light of current events.

On the third day, Dean had enough of Sam typing away on his laptop and called Bobby to see if he had any work for them.

"Well, since you're in that 'neck' of the woods, there's been a sudden rash of deaths and injuries due to extreme blood loss in New Brunswick."

"I'm going to assume you mean the one in New Jersey and not the one in Canada."

"Most of Canada has its own Hunter's network. If the problem was there they'd deal with it themselves."

"Good to know."

Bobby snorted. "Anyway, back to New Brunswick, NJ. There have been attacks, killings, and a couple of hospital robberies where the only thing the perps took was packaged blood."

Dean frowned into the phone. "That's a lot of activity for vamps. They usually like to fly a little more under the radar than that."

"Yeah, makes you wonder what they're up to."

"It does." Dean nodded to himself. "We'll take it."

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"Ellen Harvelle? Thanks for meeting me." Henricksen held out his hand to the woman sitting in a booth at the pub. He retracted it when she gave him a look that he translated as, 'you must be joking.'

Victor sucked in a breath and winced slightly. "Sorry. I'm still a little new at this."

Her eyes travelled up the length of his body before focusing on his face. With a snort, she indicated that he should take the seat across from her.

"Bobby said you've already been through a couple of tough ones. Why the hell would you ever want to go out and take on a third?"

Victor looked inward for a moment. "Sometimes, I'm not sure myself. It's just… now that I know what's really out there; I have to do something about it."

Ellen narrowed her eyes. "If that's the only reason…"

Henricksen shook his head. "It's not, but the other reason isn't so pure."

"Let's hear it."

"A demon took over my body. It made me helpless and it used me, used my body to kill a good man. I let that happen once and even though we probably fried it with the rest of the demons we exorcized, it still doesn't feel like it's over. So I'll be damned if I sit by and let something similar happen again, to me or anyone else."

Ellen stared at him for a moment and then sighed. "Damn."

"What?" Victor asked, starting to feel more than just a little ticked off.

"Personal revenge and a saving people thing. You're already stuck in this, but good."

Victor gave a huff of noise. "Yeah, guess I am."

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Ellen looked at her daughter as she introduced herself to Victor. In a moment of insanity, she'd invited the agent turned neophyte hunter along on the salt and burn she and Jo were here to take care of.

"So." Jo asked as they walked through the graveyard. "FBI?"

"Henricksen nodded. "Afraid so. I'm starting to rethink my current career path though."

Ellen shook her head. "Even if you do hunt, it doesn't mean you can't have a second… well, I guess it's more than a job, but it don't mean you can't do both. In fact, I would think the one would help the other."

Henricksen's face appeared to be pinched by an emotion she couldn't quite read. "Yeah, normally I'd say you're right, but things are…odd at the bureau."

Jo shifted the shovel she was carrying into a more comfortable position on her shoulder. "Odd how?"

The agent shook his head. "Sometimes I think somebody there knows about all of this. The monsters, the hunting. Other times I think they believe that I was somehow aiding and abetting the Winchester, which is true, but they shouldn't know that."

Jo smiled at him. "Maybe you're reading too much into things."

"Paranoid, you mean."

Jo grimaced slightly and shrugged. "Well…"

"Believe me. I've considered that as well. I'd actually like to believe that that is the case."

Both women stopped.

"You're actually hoping you're freaking out about nothing?" Jo asked.

"Yeah."

"Oh, honey." Ellen expression was slightly pained. "You really have stepped into something."

Victor nodded. "That's what I thought."

They spent the rest of the walk in silence. When they arrived at the grave, Ellen took shotgun duty while Victor and Jo took the first digging shift together. Once they got a couple of feet down there would probably only be room for one of them to work. As his shovel bit into sod and earth, he had to marvel at the changes a few months could make in a life. He'd gone from chasing the Winchesters for grave desecration, among other things, to graduating to doing it himself.

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Sitting in the Impala's passenger seat, Sam looked over the information he'd collected on Brady. So far he was the only past classmate that he knew for certain to be a demon. However, he was beginning to wonder about his high school prom date and a couple of teachers he'd had at Stanford. He couldn't prove anything, but after going through their histories he had dragged up the fact that all of them had gone through a break down at some point in their lives. Breakdowns that had caused them to either act out or disappear for a time.

"Sam, enough."

Sam sent his brother a serving of bitch face.

"Come on man, I get it. You're pissed and with good reason and we should track down Brady and possibly a few others on that list and deal with them. After we take care of the vamps."

"You didn't have to take this job."

"We were the closest hunters in the area. Besides, if we didn't take it you'd have researched all the way back to your kindergarten teacher."

Sam shifted uncomfortably.

Dean caught the movement and rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything. Sam in research mode always went the extra mile, so he shouldn't be surprised that his brother took his fact finding that far.

And speaking of research.

"So, what did you find…about the job."

Sam sighed and put aside his Brady research. "Over the last three days there have been a dozen attacks, seven of them fatal. There have also been blood robberies at two hospitals. Even before the attacks there was a rash of missing people reported, which is more like what I would expect to look for when it comes to vampires."

Dean nodded. "The rest of it is a bit extreme." He laughed. "It's almost like they're trying to get our attention."

Sam frowned. "Like they're trying to get a hunter to come after them… but why?"

Dean shrugged. "Got me. Guess we'll just have to find out."

Sam groaned. "Knowing us, we probably will."

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They set up camp at a Ramada a few miles outside of town and got some sleep before tackling the problem the next day. Mapping the attacks told them that aside from the hospital robberies and a couple of isolated assaults in other parts of the city, the majority of them had taken place around Rutger's University. They opted for a daytime search of the area. It wasn't that vampires couldn't be up and about in daylight, but they were nocturnal and far more likely to be asleep past sunrise. Therefore, it was both the best time, as well as the safest time to find the nest.

The problem with the university, was the fact that there wasn't a lot of unused space. Even the parts that were under renovation, were seriously under renovation. Workers moved in and out of the buildings all day long, killing any chance that the vamps had holed up there.

As the search wore on, they scouted the areas around the hospitals and then moved on to the two isolated attacks. The first was so residential it made Dean's teeth ache. The second had more promise, being in the industrial part of town.

"It's always in the last place you look."

Sam shook his head. "We haven't found it yet."

"No, but I'd bet you music rights the next time you drive that they're in here somewhere."

Sam looked at the area. Lots of thriving businesses sure, but most of those closed by 6pm and there were a number of large empty buildings in the area that were for sale or lease. A nest could easily hole up in one of them.

"No bet."

Dean smirked and nodded. "So, split up?"

Sam grimaced at the suggestion, but it was the best way. They had little more than an hour before the sun went down and they had to check as many buildings as they could in that time. "Meet back at the Impala before sunset. We can…stake the area out and see if anything moves."

Dean agreed. "Sounds good. We'll give it a couple of hours and if nothings shaking we can head back to the university area and see if we can spot them there."

Sam nodded and they split up, each of them knowing which sections to take without needing to ask the other.

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Fifty minutes later, Dean was eyeing a padlock and wondering if he'd have time to open it before he had to meet Sam. He aborted the move to his lock picks as his cell phone rang.

"Yeah, no, nothing here either. I'll meet you back at…"

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

Dean turned to see one large, curly haired dude glaring at him. Dean whipped out the ID they'd made for just this kind of event.

"PSEG. We're investigating a gas leak in the area. It would be best if you cleared out until we're done."

The guy briefly looked at the ID and then fixed his gaze on Dean. "You're even prettier than the picture."

Dean was about to tell the guy that he didn't play for his team, when he suddenly remembering that he hadn't had time to make picture ID when doing up the cards for Public Service Electric and Gas.

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"Dean!" Sam yelled into the phone when he heard the sounds of a scuffle break out on the other side.

"Sa…"

The sound snapped out, but Sam was all ready running to where Dean should be if he was following his usual search pattern.

He had been, however that was the only good news. The bad news was that while Dean's very broken phone was there, Dean was not.

"No, no, no."

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When Dean came to, he was tied to a chair, ropes at his chest and ankles held him in place, while for some reason his arms remained free. He ran one of his hands over his face, expecting the experience to be more painful than it was, because he fully remembered jumbo introducing his fist to it two or three times.

He pulled his hand away when he felt something around his mouth. Blankly he stared at the dried flakes of blood, his memory feeding him the vague recollection of someone pressing something to his mouth and the taste of copper. Shaking it off, he checked his nose, hoping that that was where the blood had come from.

He lowered his hand and closed his eyes, slumping slightly as he realized it hadn't.

"Oh good, you're awake. Brought you a little snack. Normally I'd offer you something fresh, but I'm afraid the larder's empty at the moment."

Dean opened his eyes and jerked away from the bag of blood held in front of him. The big curly haired bastard from before was holding it and he looked slightly concerned at the reaction.

"Get that out of my face." Dean growled the sentence out.

"But you want it. Hell, you need it."

Dean shook his head. "No." It wasn't even a lie, not yet, but how long until it would be?

The guy set it down on a nearby table. "Fine, it'll be here when you're ready for it."

Dean swallowed down the faint feeling of nausea at the thought. His reaction gave him the brief hope that the guy had been bullshitting him, but a quick check with his tongue proved that he already had the second set of teeth hiding in his gum line.

"Of all the ways I thought I'd go out."

Curly smirked at him. "Hate to break it to you, but you're a vampire now. You're looking at not dying for a very long time."

Dean shook his head, but didn't bother to mention that he'd be dead just as soon as he could get someone to take his head. Briefly, he considered the possibility that Cas could fix this, but he knew he couldn't count on something like that working.

He wondered if he could talk the angel into doing the deed, because he doubted he'd be able to get his brother to do it. He winced at the thought and discarded it.

Maybe Loki would do it. Wouldn't be the first time that he'd killed him and he'd probably enjoy the irony of the current situation.

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Sam had to use precious minutes running to the car to get a crow bar. Yes, he could have picked the lock, but it would have taken almost as long and with the extra adrenaline he was pumping, he wasn't sure he could keep his hands steady enough to pull it off.

Of course, the place that Dean had been checking on when he disappeared was empty.

Swearing, Sam chose the next most likely building and crowbar in hand, headed to it at a run.

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Crowley looked at his watch and smiled. By his calculations, Dean Winchester was now a vampire. With any luck, he'd be a dead vampire before anyone realized that the section of the city they were in was warded to keep angels out. The job had been huge, and it wouldn't hold for more than a day or two, but for now, the Hardy Boys were on their own.

He was just pouring himself a congratulatory scotch, when Meg crashed his party.

"How do you kill a pagan god?"

Crowley shrugged and put his drink aside. "Do you know its name and what kind of god it is?"

"Kaseva." Meg paced the area in front of his desk, anger pouring from her body. "I looked him up, he's some sort of trickster."

"Well then, summon him and shove a wooden stake through his chest."

Meg paused, her expression very unhappy. "He can kill demons. Took out four of mine and made off with the Winchesters a couple of days ago."

Ah, that explained the pissed off attitude.

"Why'd he do that?"

Meg threw herself into a chair. "Because, even though he's been saved by angels, Dean Winchester is apparently a pagan. He prayed to Kaseva for help and the guy actually showed up."

Crowley froze for a brief moment, and then picked up his drink and downed it. How did the Winchesters keep pulling stuff like this out of their asses? All of his careful planning and warding didn't have a hope of stopping a trickster. Sure, a pagan god might not be as powerful as an angel, but it would be strong enough to take out a nest of vampires.

It took him about three seconds to come up with a second plan. It was a good one, but it would be best if he got Meg out of here and then did what he'd just told her to do. Summon it, kill it and there'd be no way it could help the Winchesters.

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One thing that Crowley hadn't even considered needing to work into the angel wards was a cell phone block. After Sam found the next building empty, he called Castiel. The younger Winchester actually had to tell him where he was, because as soon as he called, Cas realized that he couldn't sense him or Dean. Three attempts to get to them later found Cas standing outside the warded area, trying to find a way to break into it.

He phoned Sam, quickly explaining the problem to him.

"Okay, so you can't get to me. If I find Dean and bring him to you can you fix him if…?"

Cas didn't make Sam finish that sentence. "If he is injured or simply dead, yes." Heaven would probably notice him bringing Dean back to life, but Cas was prepared to burn that bridge if necessary. "However, if he has been turned… maybe? "

"Cas, what do you mean by maybe? " The question sounded as if it had been spoken through gritted teeth and was punctuated with the sound of another padlock breaking as it gave way under Sam's crowbar.

"If he has been turned and you find him before he drinks human blood, then I may be able to change him back. However, I won't know for certain until I see him." He had been able to fix Dean just after Eve had bitten him, but the Mother of All was dead at the time, her power over her children diminished. The same thing did not hold true now.

"I'll keep looking."

"Sam, be careful. There is more going on than just vampires. They wouldn't think to ward an area to keep an angel out."

"Yeah, I figured, but thanks for the heads up. You just find a way to get in here." Sam ended his call before Cas could agree. Putting his phone away, the angel started to walk the edge of the ward, looking for any weak spots in the spell.

He frowned slightly as he felt someone attempt to summon Kaseva. Whoever was calling had put a lot of power into it, turning it into a demand from the invitation it ought to have been. Still, since the first summons he'd reacted to, he'd become used to them enough that it was possible for him to ignore even this one.

The second bid a little less so.

By the third attempt, it was obvious that someone was using power unwisely. It would take him longer to resist the pull than it would to just go and deal with the problem. Annoyed, he chose to arrive in the 'costume' Loki had helped him create.

"Was beginning to think you'd never show up."

It was unexpected, to find Crowley standing in front of him. However, Cas found the next moment even more surprising, as someone standing behind him shoved a wooden stake through his back and into his vessels heart.


	31. Chapter 31

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Author's note, please read: I have rewritten (tweaked) the last section of the previous chapter, because even though I didn't intend something, it was coming out that way. I know it bothered a few people, and once it was pointed out to me and I came to realize I would need an author's note to make things clear, it really began to eat at me. Therefore, I've changed it a bit in the hopes that it will work better. If you read the previous chapter shortly after I posted, you might want to go over that last bit again.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 31

When Dean found his eyes on the bag of blood for the third time in fifteen minutes, he swallowed thickly and forced his gaze away from it. Maybe it was pointless, but he would put off that hunger for as long as he could. Until he died, if he could manage to work it.

He just needed some distraction.

"So, what's your name?"

The vamp who'd turned him gave him an amused smirk, his eyes going from Dean to the bag of blood on the table and back again. For a moment Dean was pissed, as he realized that the guy knew he was trying to keep his mind off the 'food' and he strained against the ropes around his chest. They didn't want to give, but he heard the chair creak ominously.

"Boris."

Dean stopped struggling and looked up at him. "You're kidding."

The guy went from giving the chair a concerned look, to smirking and shaking his head. "No." He shrugged. "Old vampire, old name."

"How old?" Dean asked, willing to play along. "I mean you, not the name."

"600 years, give or take."

Dean blinked, both impressed and a little freaked. "How come someone so old is working for someone else?"

Boris leaned against the table and rested his hand a couple of inches from the bag of blood. "What do you mean?"

Dean pulled his gaze away from the blood and focused on the guy's face. "You mentioned me being… better looking than my picture. Somebody had to give you, that picture."

Boris sighed. "Yeah. Don't know why he wanted you turned… but I can't complain about the results." Dean felt his skin crawl as the vampire looked him over.

"The guy got a name?" Dean asked, trying to keep his voice light.

Boris gave his captive a deep look, and then shrugged. "What the hell. Said his name was Crowley."

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Shadow Cas went down on one knee as he attempted to reach around and pull the stake out of his back. Vaguely, he was aware of Crowley dismissing the demon who had done the actual staking. When he looked up, the King of the Crossroads was standing over him, semi-gloating.

"Why?" Cas gasped out the question.

Crowley's smirk lost some of its twist. "Sorry, nothing personal. Just couldn't have you rushing in and saving old Dean. Went to a lot of trouble to get that little pain in the ass turned."

"It was yo..?" The rest of Cas' question was lost as he figured it out. If Dean were to die as a vampire, then he would be slated for neither Heaven nor Hell. The first seal would be safe again, for a time. "Interesting, meeting a demon that's trying to keep the first seal safe. That doesn't want to help break Lucifer free of his cage."

Crowley lost his smirk completely. "You're a smart one. Good thing you won't be telling anyone about it."

Kaseva gave him a gasping huff of laughter. "Only by choice."

Crowley backed up as the darkness of the god's being was suddenly lit up with flashes of lightening. He ducked behind his desk as an electrical charge leapt from the form in front of him and introduced itself to each piece of electronics in the room.

Everything went dark.

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His vessel, Jimmy, was actually a very flexible man and Cas could augment that ability if needed. Even so, pulling a very long wooden stake out of his back was awkward at best. Now he understood why Loki used doubles so much.

Once he had the thing out, he burned it. He didn't want to risk leaving any of his blood behind.

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Crowley poked his head up from behind his desk and tried to find a shadow formed pagan god in a darkened room. Something that was near impossible even with a demon's ability to see better in the dark than a human.

Ducking as a burst of light flared into being, he attempted to 'pop' out of the room. A quiet sound of surprise escaped his lips when the move was blocked and he found himself still crouched down behind his desk. Apparently not only had he not killed the god, but he'd pissed it off and it was more powerful than he'd realized.

"Don't suppose we can talk about this?" The demon asked hopefully.

"Depends." He heard a voice say. "How well will you be able to speak once I pull your skull and spine out through your nose?"

Crowley had to take a moment to visualize that. He really didn't like it.

"Look, you can't want Lucifer walking the Earth any more than I do."

"No, but that doesn't mean I'll let you harm the Winchesters."

Crowley stood up slowly with his hands in a yield position and looked around for Kaseva. "I'd be happy to never go near them, but if Hell gets old Dean back in its clutches…"

"It won't."

"How do you know that?"

"Because he's mine!"

There was some very thick silence after that statement.

"By that, I mean he's my chosen warrior on Earth." Kaseva's deep, power filled voice clarified.

"Of course."

The lights sputtered back to life and Crowley looked around, but couldn't see anyone in the room with him. At least, not until he remembered to look behind him.

The shadow god stared up at him from the desk's chair.

"Your choice is simple. Tell me exactly where Dean Winchester is and I will let you live."

"Really?"

"Yes. I may not like you, but I'd rather see you as King of Hell than Lucifer or any of his groupies."

"You ah… You know about that little plan?"

"Yes, as do my most trusted followers."

Crowley really hoped that last bit was a lie, except it didn't sound like it was and anyway, he couldn't risk it.

"Okay then, let me get you that address."

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A few other members of the nest, most of them on the fugly side of vampire, were slowly coming out of whatever cubbyholes they'd been hiding in. Dean didn't enjoy the bug under a magnifying glass feeling he got as they checked him over. A couple of the better-looking vamps gave him jealous glances that somehow made him even more uncomfortable than the other's intrusive ones had.

Boris smiled. "Your new family." His hand moved out in a sweeping gesture, taking them all in. He picked up the bag of blood and dangled it in front of Dean's face. "Ready for this now?"

Dean shifted away from it as much as he could. "No."

The vampire shook his head. "I'll force feed you if I have to."

"I'm not eating… and they're not my family."

Boris had grabbed at Dean's hair to pull his head back, when the screech of a padlock being pulled from the door by a crowbar made everyone in the place cringe.

Then Sam Winchester kicked the door open.

Boris' reaction was automatic. "Get him."

Free from Boris' grip, Dean immediately threw his whole self into breaking free. The ropes were strong, but the chair had had enough abuse. With an application of vampire strength and a twist of his body, Dean snapped the back of it away from the seat. Standing, the ropes loosened enough that he was able to shove them off over his head before working to untie his legs from the rest of the chair.

It was about then that he realized that Sam hadn't come into the building after his dramatic non-entrance. However, every vampire in the place was trying to get out of the warehouse to go after him.

Dean blinked, because suddenly they were all trying to come back in.

Horrified, he watched as the Impala burst through the warehouse's corrugated metal siding. Vampires went flying everywhere. Sam braked and hauled on the wheel, swinging the car around in a half circle to a stop it with the passenger side door, inches from Dean's hand. In the space of one breath, Dean was in the car. "If you've hurt her Sammy…"

"Yeah, yeah." He hit the gas and drove back out of the hole he'd made in the building. The vampires had more sense this time. They got out of the way.

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"What took you so long?" Dean asked as he kept an eye on the vampires chasing the car.

"This place is blocks from where they took you. I'd still be looking if it wasn't for Cas."

Dean glanced towards his brother and flinched slightly as he realized that he could hear Sam's heart banging away as if a demented drummer was playing it. He took a breath to speak and nearly choked on the blood smell coming off of his little brother. He swallowed and focused on the vamps that were still chasing them.

"Dean, did they…? Whoa." Sam stopped the car as every vampire behind them suddenly dropped to the ground. He twisted around in the driver's seat so he could see out the back window.

A quick look at each other and the brothers got out of the vehicle. Keeping an eye on the downed vampires, Sam popped the trunk open and they each pulled out a machete.

Once they got close enough to them, they could tell that the vamps were paralyzed rather than dead.

"It's almost like they were all given a dose of dead man's blood." Sam carefully poked at one of the vampires. Weakly it attempted to hiss at him.

"Essentially, yes."

Dean swung his machete towards the voice before he could stop himself. Thankfully, something else did.

Cas gave him a questioning glance and then let go of his arm.

"Dammit Cas, you can't go popping up like that. I could have…"

The angel gave him a small smile. "Your reflexes are faster at the moment, but they're still not faster than mine."

Sam pulled in a startled breath and Dean could swear he felt his heart sink at the lost expression on his brother's face.

"Dean?"

Dean turned away, unable to bring himself to look at Sam. Burying his emotions, he turned to practical matters.

"Cas, did you do this?" He indicated the downed vampires with a wave of his machete.

The angel nodded. "Yes, as soon as they crossed the wards I caused the blood each vampire had recently consumed to become poisoned. Essentially, it became dead man's blood." He gave Dean a piercing look. "I am glad to see that you have not given into that hunger."

Dean laughed humourlessly. "Yeah, well. Not sure how much longer I can hold out." He looked at the machete he was holding and licked his lips. "Uh, guys…"

"No Dean." Sam's voice was harsh and Dean looked up to find his brother glaring at him. "Neither of us is going to kill you."

"How did you know I was going to ask that?"

Sam rolled his eyes. "Like it wasn't going to be the first thing out of your mouth. Now sit your ass down on the hood of the Impala while Cas and I take care of the vampires and then we'll go back to the motel so Cas can fix you." He gazed hopefully at the angel. "Right?"

Dean felt his heart lurch back into place and his whole body twitched towards Castiel. "Can you?"

"I..." He tilted his head, looking Dean over with a frown. With a blink, his face cleared. "Yes, I believe I can. Your body is already trying to reject the infection. There's a good chance you might have been able to fight it off yourself, given enough time."

Dean narrowed his eyes at him. "This is more of that Paladin stuff, isn't it?"

"I… think so, yes."

"Damn, I'm never going to be able to get rid of that chosen warrior thing, not if it keeps being this useful."

Cas just smiled.

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In the end, Dean did help with one of the vampires.

Boris could hear his nest mates and fledglings dying around him, but couldn't move to stop it. As he stared up at the sky, the hunter that had driven the car into the nest stepped into view, blocking the stars as he looked down at him.

"Dean."

His newest fledgling joined the hunter in looking down at him. There was a good deal of hate in those eyes. Worse, there was pity.

Haltingly, Boris managed to get words out past his partially paralysed throat.

"You think this is over? You can kill all of us, but you're not going to escape what you've become."

"Actually, we can probably fix the vampire stuff." Boris was surprised that the smile Dean gave him was self-deprecating rather than smug. "If it makes you feel any better, you're right. I won't be able to escape myself, because vampires are the least complicated part of my life." Dean's face lost all humour and he held out a hand to the other hunter. The taller man passed him a machete and Boris had just long enough to let out one shaky breath of laughter before his head rolled free of his body.

Dean turned and walked back to the car, not watching as Cas set fire to the decapitated bodies. He crawled into the backseat of his baby and did his best not to notice anything until they were pulling up to the motel.

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"Well?" Dean asked as he sat down on one of the motel room beds. He was more than worried. Not only was the hunger pushing at him like a living thing, but also he felt like crap on top of it. It was as if he'd come down with a super flu, times ten.

Cas tilted his head to look at him and then nodded. "Although you are still fighting the infection, I don't believe we should risk having it clear up on its own." He reached out to Dean and then paused. Looking around he spotted a small, empty trash can which he retrieved and set down on the bed by Dean's side."

"What's that for?" Dean asked, even though he suspected that he already knew.

Cas didn't say anything; he just reached out and touched Dean on the side of his neck, at the pulse point.

Dean sucked in a breath. "Wow… I think that…" His eyes bounced wide and he grabbed the trashcan before emptying the contents of his stomach into it.

Sam hovered over him, concerned. "What's happening to him?"

Cas answered Sam, but kept his attention on Dean. "The tainted blood the vampire fed him to turn him is being rejected. He'll probably spend the next day or two sweating the rest of the impurities out of his body."

"So in other words, I'm going to feel like crap." Dean's voice said, echoing up from the trashcan.

"Yes, I'm afraid so."

"Awesome."

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One minute, Crowley was pouring himself a scotch. The next, he was appearing in a grand sitting room that looked to have been decorated by a silent film star.

"Where the hell am I?"

"California."

Turning, he found the shadow god he'd had an interesting time with a few days before. He was even more interesting today, as he was standing between and slightly in front of Sam and Dean Winchester. Crowley attempted a smile and both brothers shifted, their expressions screaming that they wanted to rip a certain demon's head off and shove it up his… well, you know.

Crowley attempted to zap himself somewhere else. When that didn't work, he looked down, not at all surprised to find that he was standing in a devil's trap.

"Bollocks." He pasted a smile onto his face. "So, what can I do you gents for?" His smile grew more strained as he looked at the expressions on the Winchester's faces, so he was rather glad that it was Kas…Kaseva, whatever, that answered.

"We want to make certain that a repeat of the incident with the vampires doesn't happen."

Well, that sounded ominous, especially when he was stuck in a damn circle. Didn't stop him from speaking his mind though.

"And I'd like to make certain that the elder Winchester doesn't end up back in Hell. The fact that the first seal is still intact is a near miracle. One I'd like to see continue."

Cas glanced at Dean, who nodded. They'd already discussed this next part. Dean had to admit, the solution they were about to suggest to Crowley, even if it was bullshit, made him uncomfortable. It also further cemented his and Sam's a not unreasoning dislike of irony while causing them a distinct desire to bang their heads against a wall. However, since Cas insisted that the demon might still have an important part to play in screwing over the apocalypse, they were willing to go through with it, for now.

"The first seal should not be a problem." Kaseva promised.

"Want to elaborate?"

Dean cleared his throat. "I'm his chosen warrior on Earth. When I die, I'm not… I'm not going anywhere."

Crowley looked confused.

Sam frowned at him. "You went and summoned him. Didn't you even bother to look him up?"

"Of course I did. He's Finnish. He can shape shift into a bird and he…" Crowley broke off and turned surprised eyes on Dean. "He eats souls."

"Dean is my chosen warrior. His soul has a place of honour set aside within me. He is not food."

Crowley started to laugh.

"Glad somebody finds it funny." Dean grumped.

The demon went on for a good minute before finally managing to tone it down to a chuckle. A hand wiped tears of laughter from his eyes. "Oh, I have to know. Was that an accident, or did you deliberately plan on screwing over the apocalypse?"

Cas frowned. Not that anyone could see it as his form was shadowed, but he did. "Stopping the apocalypse from occurring was always one of my goals." He glanced at the brothers but didn't say anything more.

Crowley shook his head. "Got to admit, when I met you I thought you were oddly lacking in humour for a trickster, but this. You're pulling off the largest practical joke of all time."

"Yeah, wish I'd thought of it."

Every eye in the room looked towards the voice that had just spoken.

"Hey guys, bro… How's tricks?"

Crowley wondered if he should be worried when Sam and Dean groaned and buried their faces in their hands.

"Hello Loki…. Tricks are…fine."

Author's note: Finally, I managed to get Gabriel and Crowley in the same room together.

Have to see how long it takes before Crowley starts to put together the things that don't fit about Kas.

Oh, if you're wondering. Grandma Campbell does have the vampire cure recipe, but I wanted to use the Paladin bond thing for this, so they still don't know about it.


	32. Chapter 32

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Read me… Author's note: I'm participating in NaNoWriMo this month, so updates may be a little slower than average.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 32

Crowley looked at Loki, the god of mischief and briefly considered the benefits of panicking. There were only a few big name pagan gods he'd go out of the way to avoid, and this one was at the top of that list.

"So, who's the demon?"

Crowley cringed when he saw an evil smile cross Dean's face.

"Loki, Originator of Deceits. Meet Crowley, King of the Crossroads."

The trickster tossed a smirk in Winchester's general direction. "Someone's been studying."

Dean just shrugged.

"So, crossroads demon?" Loki looked Crowley over.

"'Fraid so." The demon replied. "Pagan god?"

"Guilty."

Crowley stuck his hands in his pockets and took his time looking the trickster over. "Any reason why you lot are involving yourselves in this mess."

Loki's eyebrows took a bounce up towards his hairline. "What, we're just supposed to sit back and let the forces of Heaven and Hell rip this world apart?"

Sam and Dean both snorted and the trickster gave them an annoyed look. "Okay, so I wouldn't have bothered getting this involved if little bro here wasn't invested in this mess, but he is, so I am."

Cas gave him a brief look, because he was certain that Gabriel's reason's for helping were more complicated than that, but he was also sure that his brother would never admit to what those reasons were.

"Well," Crowley said, getting everyone's attention. "This has been a lovely party, but I have business elsewhere. So, If we're done here?"

"You know bro; dealing with demons rarely ends well." Crowley stiffened slightly as Loki gave him a look that was reminiscent of Alistair when he was about to dissect someone.

"Yes, I do." Kaseva replied.

"Look mate. I'll stay out of your way. You stay out of mine. Maybe we can exchange the occasional tidbit of information from time to time. Other than that…" Crowley's voice tapered off hopefully.

Kaseva tilted his darkened head towards his brother. "There is a good chance he will be needed in future events." His head moved in the opposite direction to look at Crowley. "Of course, if he should ever again attempt to harm what is ours in any way…"

Loki smiled. "Then he's mine?"

Kaseva nodded. "Yours."

Despite the devil's trap, Crowley tried to step back from the god and that smile. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Sam shudder and even Dean looked perturbed at the thought of Loki having free rein over anyone.

"Well, I'm sure it won't come to that."

With a slightly less terrifying grin, Loki snapped his fingers. The demon and the Winchesters all flinched slightly and it took them a moment to realize that the devil's trap had been broken.

Crowley stepped carefully out of the circle, freezing as Loki draped an arm around his shoulders.

"Before you go, I think gigantor over here has some questions for you about an old college buddy of his."

Sam's eyebrows shot up, and then he smiled. It wasn't as scary as Loki's grin had been… but it was close.

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Henricksen moved carefully through a creaking old house somewhere in West Virginia, an iron bar held tightly in two hands. Jo was off to his left hand side similarly armed, while Ellen was ahead of both of them and carrying a sawed off shotgun loaded with rock salt.

They all paused at the sound of a door opening at the back of the house.

Victor winced at each noise the old floorboards made as they made their way to the kitchen. Jo moved into position to push the door open, he took up the middle and Ellen went down on one knee to take a lower, firing position.

She nodded at he daughter and Jo shoved at the door with all her strength.

THUD.

"Ow, what the hell?" The sound of someone racking a shotgun could be heard through the door.

"I don't know who's on the other side of that door, but if you fire that thing at us I'll make you eat it." Ellen called out calmly.

"Uh. Ellen Harvelle?"

"Who wants to know?"

"It's Roy… and Walt."

Victor noticed Jo and her Mother briefly held the same pained expressions on their faces.

"Yeah, it's me. Get out here."

The three of them backed up as two men eased out of the kitchen and into the hallway. They acknowledged Jo and Ellen each with a nod, but gave Victor a suspicious look.

Ellen nodded back. "Boys. Didn't realize that there was another team in town."

"Us either." Walt relied. "New guy?"

"Victor and yeah, I'm new." Henricksen told them. He didn't offer to shake hands, knowing that neither man would be willing to tie up one of their hands even briefly in the middle of a hunt.

"Bobby sent him our way. Figured we could use the help and he needed the experience."

They didn't thaw completely, but the two hunters did stand down slightly at Bobby's name.

"So, you wanna team up for this hunt?" Roy asked.

Since she knew them, Henricksen was going to leave the answer up to Ellen. She never got the chance to say anything.

Around them, the house cracked as wood suddenly contracted. All of them let out a started breath, but only Henricksen was truly surprised to find that the air had turned so cold that his exhalation misted as it left his body.

Victor's eyes shifted to the right as a ghost appeared beside them. He felt Jo's body start with surprise and spared her a glance, only to see another ghost standing next to her. A third ghost appeared with his back to them, facing Roy and Walt.

"Thought there was only supposed to be one ghost." Roy said, shifting away from the apparition.

Victor couldn't see what the two hunters could see on the ghost's face, but both men suddenly froze.

"Ah, crap."

The door was destroyed as Roy and Walt were propelled through it and into the kitchen.

As there was little room to swing in the hallway, Victor used the iron bar he was holding to stab at the ghost beside him. It shuddered out of existence like a movie clip shot on bad film stock.

On his other side, Jo did the same thing. Deciding that the other hunters were now far enough away, Ellen levelled her shotgun at the third ghost that was turning slowly towards them.

The blast was far too loud in the small space. Victor's ears were ringing, but not enough to drown out Ellen's voice.

"Kitchen, now."

There was a definite lack of grace as the three of them stumbled their way across the broken bits of the kitchen door.

Roy and Walt had already gotten the back door open and were outside in the yard. The three of them quickly followed. Victor looked back as he grabbed the door to shut it, his eyes widening as the three ghosts reformed only a few feet away from him.

"Go, go." He slammed the door shut, leapt the steps and hit the ground running just behind the others. They didn't stop until they got back to their cars.

"So," Jo said, once she's gotten enough air back in her lungs to speak with. "That went well."

Victor gave her a breathy laugh. "Guess we'll be making another trip to the library, 'cause it looks like we missed a detail or two on the first trip."

"Yeh think?"

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"What do you know about Tyson Brady?" Sam asked, once Loki had dropped Crowley onto a couch.

"Look…" Crowley briefly contemplated escape, but realized that with two pagan gods standing a few feet away that is was unlikely he'd be able to zap himself out of the room, much less all the way home.

"His business and mine don't usually intersect. He was one of Azazel's lackey's."

"There were others?" Sam asked.

Crowley sighed. "Yeah. From what I heard Old Yellow Eyes kept tabs on you the whole time."

Both Winchesters grimaced at the information. Dean frowned. "I can get us not catching on to them when we were kids, but how did Dad miss it?"

Crowley looked vaguely annoyed. "I don't think he did, not completely. It looked to me like he moved you guys around more than he otherwise would have because they were setting off his radar."

Sam winced, remembering every time he complained because they had to move again.

"Wonder if that's why he stopped letting us stay with Gran."

Crowley snorted. "Actually, Azazel was relieved when that happened. Over the years, she found and exorcised five of his little minions. And two of them had been sent specifically to kill her. The only reason he stopped trying was because your father stopped sending you to her. And no, I don't know why he did that."

"I didn't ask." Sam said.

"Please, the question was practically etched onto your face."

Whatever Sam would have said next was lost as Castiel stepped into the conversation.

"Are there any of Sam's stalkers still active?"

Crowley flinched slightly. He was more worried about Loki, but Kaseva's voice leaked darkness and power to the point that he doubted he'd be able to recognize it just by the sound of it.

"Probably, although they're not assigned to him anymore. I wouldn't be surprised if Meg doesn't try again with someone else, since she's looking to take over where her Daddy and Lilith left off. Besides, she is the one that set Brady on you."

Sam frowned. "Why him?"

Crowley shrugged. "Probably because he was the last watcher you were actually close to. Look, can I go now?"

"Just one more question."

Crowley slumped. Exactly when had he lost control of this mess?

"Where's Brady now?"

Crowley rolled his eyes. "Niveus Pharmaceuticals of course. I hear they've been tweaking the Croatoen virus ever since Azazel finished the trail runs. I believe the two of you were present for one of them."

"Son of a bitch."

Cas tilted his head and considered the demon in front of him.

"You know more about what's going on than I thought you would."

Crowley allowed himself a smirk. "King of the Crossroads."

"No, that is not the reason." As far as Cas could remember, Crowley hadn't known about Niveus' endgame in the previous timeline, so why did he now? Of course, he was a demon; he may have been lying about his ignorance.

Crowley let out a sigh. "Look, with Lilith gone and Lucifer stuck in his cage… well, someone had to step into the power vacuum that created. That someone just happened to be me and a lot of information came my way because of it."

Sam frowned. "I though Meg took over."

"Sure, the physical stuff, but can you seriously see her handling the administrative side of running Hell?"

Sam's eyebrows rose. "Now that you mention it, no."

"Damn right. Now, I really must be going. Staff meeting and the like. Tah." This time no one and nothing tried to stop him from leaving.

Gabriel stared at the spot where the demon had been. "I like him, he's got style. I'll have to come up with something good to do to him."

Briefly, Dean considered asking if he could watch, but decided that the chance that Loki would drag him into whatever he was planning was too great. He'd just have to hear about it after it happened.

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Henricksen closed the book he'd been reading with a not so quiet grumble about how hunters had just as much annoying research to do as the FBI did.

That said, he figured he'd found out why there were three ghosts in the house when they'd expected only one.

"The guy was innocent."

Ellen and Jo looked up at him. Ellen nodded. "Thought so." She dropped the sheaf of printouts she'd been reading onto the table they were sitting at. "According to the transcripts, that had to have been the quickest court case and sentencing in the state's history."

Jo frowned. "So, someone else killed the two brothers and the third one got blamed and executed for it and now they're all pissed?"

"I would be." Henricksen looked around. "What happened to Roy and Walt?"

Ellen sighed. "Probably drinking. Those boys are decent enough hunters, but their research skills leave something to be desired."

"What she means is they tend to step in it a lot because they don't do the work." Jo said with a shake of her head. "The fact that they're good with the physical stuff is the only thing that's kept them alive so far."

"So I should avoid working with them when possible?"

Both women nodded. "Exactly." Ellen looked at her watch. "Sad to say, we'll probably need them on this one. It'll be dark in a couple of hours and the brothers are buried in two different cemeteries."

"And it would be better if we covered them both at the same time." Victor said.

"Yep." Ellen pulled out her phone and went looking for their number. "We'll grab those two, get some food and do a little planning." She dialled the number and put the phone up to her ear. "Where are you?" She listened for a moment. "Stay there, we'll come to you." She ended the call.

"Well, at least they picked a place that serves food. Let's go."

The three of them collected their research and headed out to what would turn out to be an Irish ale house/restaurant.

Their burgers oddly enough, were great.

A few hours later, flashlight in hand, Victor was moving through the gravestones of the cemetery where two of their ghosts were buried.

"Over here."

He joined the ladies, who were standing in front of two gravestones. "That them?"

"Yep." Ellen glanced around the area. "Well, no time like the present."

This time Jo took first shift on shotgun duty, while Victor and her mother each picked a grave and started to dig. About an hour later, Ellen traded off with Jo and took over guard position.

She moved over to where Victor was digging.

"So, you moving on after this salt and burn?"

He paused for a moment. "Yeah… How'd you know?"

She shrugged. "Just did." She watched him dig for another minute. "Heading back to work?"

He shook his head. "I'm still on vacation. Thought I'd look up a few other names on Bobby's list."

"Like?"

He stopped digging for a moment to catch his breath.

"Rufus Turner."

Ellen snorted. "If you go to see him don't forget to take Scotch, really, really good Scotch."

Victor dug his shovel back into the dirt. "Brought along a thirty year old bottle of Glencraig." He shrugged at her raised eyebrow. "It was a gift from an Interpol agent I worked with a couple of years ago. I never cracked it open because I don't drink alone if I can help it."

"Well, Johnny Walker Blue is usually the way to his heart, but that sounds like it will do just as well."

"Hope so. I've kind of been looking forward to finally drinking the thing."

In the end, they salted and burned the bodies without any interference.

Roy and Walt weren't quite as lucky, only ghosts weren't the problem. In the course of digging up the grave, they had to deal with two security guards and an amorous couple looking for a new place to make out. Thankfully no one else showed up, because they'd run out of plastic restraints and things to blindfold them with and were tired of listening to the four of them freak out.

Next time they would not take a job based solely on the fact that one grave was easier to dig up than two were.

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While Sam and Dean ran research on Niveus, Castiel went about his duties for Heaven. He was a soldier, who had a company of other, younger soldiers under him that had to be place, moved, supplied and led. The first time around, with the seals breaking, this had taken up much of his time when he wasn't with the Winchesters. Now…

"I believe that all of your weapons have been thoroughly cleaned and sharpened."

The twenty angels in this one of five groups, or platoons, to use military terms, in the company under his command snapped to attention.

"Do you have a mission for us, sir?"

Cas started to shake his head, and then paused. The one thing he knew about angels, they almost never questioned orders. This was why he had already set the companies first four platoons to other tasks. Two of them were to discretely gather information on Earth pertaining to Demon and Angel movement. The other two were monitoring Angel Radio for him and sending him reports when key works were mentions. All this information helped, but maybe it was time to push Heaven's envelope just a little more.

The Winchesters were hoping to take out the main headquarters of Niveus when they went after Brady. However, the place was huge, the company also had manufacturers, warehouses, and labs in other parts of the country and those places probably had demon staff as well. They would need help.

"I need research done on a human business called Niveus Pharmaceuticals. The company is being run largely by demons."

Every angel in the group suddenly possessed a disgusted expression at the thought of it.

"I also need a reasonable plan for taking down the demons, with minimum human collateral damage." He thought the next part over for a moment before including it.

"The Righteous Man and his brother have already come into conflict with these demons and are also researching them as a job. Their safety is paramount when it comes to any plans."

"Even over other human casualties?" One of the older angels in the group asked.

Castiel stared at him for a moment and then nodded. "They won't thank you for it, but yes, their lives before any others."

As one, the angels bowed and then moved to do their work.

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Dean looked over the blue prints of Niveus' headquarters and rubbed at his eyes. "I still say we should just go in there, bash him over the head, stick him in a devil's trap and introduce him to one of your better exorcisms."

Sam shook his head. "No. He's been possessed too long. The real Brady's either already dead or will be once the demon's out of him." He took a deep breath. "The knife or the Colt."

Dean nodded. "So, how about the rest of my plan?"

"I don't think that really qualifies as a plan Dean."

"You got a better one?"

Sam sighed and rubbed at his own eyes. "Tactical Nuclear Missile?"

"Oooh, I like it, but I forgot to repack our weapons of mass destruction the last time I rearranged the weapon's stash."

Dean smiled, waiting for Sam's return volley of snark when the sound of wings claimed their attentions.

"I believe I may be able to provide a service that would yield similar results to such a weapon." Cas told them, his face somehow more serious than they'd ever seen it.

Both brothers swallowed against the sudden dryness in their throats. As usual, Dean summed up the situation.

"Awesome."

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Cas' initial intelligence report showed that Niveus had a main headquarters, a separate research lab, several manufacturing plants and a distribution warehouse. That warehouse shipped out to smaller distribution centres, but there were over 20 of those and it just wasn't practical to go after all of them. Besides, there was a good chance that the people manning those centres were just people.

Despite Sam wanting answers from Brady, he agreed that the focus had to be on destroying every last sample and scrap of information about the virus. Tentatively they decided that five of the angels would be assigned to take out the labs. Four would go with Sam, Dean and Castiel to the main headquarters, Five would be sent to deal with the distribution centre. The last six angels would split into teams of two to deal with three of the largest factories.

It should be a piece of cake… or pie, if you prefer.

Author's note: 30-year-old Glencraig was the closest I could find to Crowley's preferred brand in the real world. I don't think it's the same though, as the tasting notes for Glencraig are different from how Rufus described Craig. Since I did the research, I decided to let Victor bring Glencraig to the party. Of course, Crowley still prefers Craig. Add in the Johnny Walker Blue and one thing is certain. They all have expensive tastes when it comes to Scotch.


	33. Chapter 33

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Author's note: Nanowrimo and GISHWHES. What was I thinking? Fun though.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 33

"Wadda yah want?"

Victor stood on a decrepit porch attached to a decrepit house and stared into a very up to date camera and speaker.

"Uh, my name's Victor Henricksen."

"So?"

"Bobby Singer suggested that I look you up."

There wasn't any sound over the camera, but Victor was certain that he heard a thump from the house that sounded like someone hitting something.

"So?"

"He said to bring Scotch. I've never gotten the chance to open this, as I don't drink alone. Thought you might be able to help me with that last part." He held up the bottle of Glencraig.

The door to the house opened and Victor got his first look at Rufus Turner.

"How long have you been sitting on that bottle?"

Victor gave it a look. "Close to two years."

Rufus stared at him and shook his head. "I don't usually bother to drink if it isn't Johnny Walker Blue." Then he smiled. "But, I suppose I could make an exception just this once. Come on in kid."

Victor raised an eyebrow, but figured that if Rufus had been a hunter as long as Bobby, then he'd probably earned the right to call anyone just starting out in the business a kid.

It was better than probie, after all.

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The eyewitness reports that the platoon brought back threw up an immediate roadblock to the operation. Both the main headquarters and the labs had heavy-duty Enochian wards for protection. The distribution centre and factories had some as well, but they were more of the 'don't notice us variety,' rather than the 'can't come in' type of ward and wouldn't hold against a concentrated effort to enter.

And concentrated effort was something angels did well.

Castiel went to discuss the larger problem with Dean and Sam, because they were going to have to involve more people. Hunters most likely. Preferably ones that the brothers knew and trusted. Of course, once they had the extra support, they would have to figure out a way for the hunters to break the wards so the angels could follow.

Dean threw his hands up in the air. "You make it sound so easy."

"I am certain that I can come up with a way for a human to disable the wards. " Cas said, trying to reassure him.

When it came to such things, he had special knowledge given to him by his Father. However, the other reason that Cas' wards were so strong was because those types of protections had always been his specialty. In addition, he also possessed an almost instinctively knowledge of how to counter nearly any ward.

"Sure, but we'll still need to get to them." It was on the tip of Dean's tongue to say that they would just deal with the problem without the angels' help, when Sam interrupted.

"Well, Bobby said he'd help and he's going to give a shout out to any other hunters he can think of that can handle something this big." He said as he ended the call he'd made during Dean and Cas' conversation.

Dean shook his head. "That's going to be a short list."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, but it'll be more than what we've got now."

Dean couldn't argue with that.

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Cas viewed the sigils he could see at a safe distance from Niveus headquarters. Two angels, essentially the platoon's lieutenants, were standing nearby.

"Are all the wards like these?"

One of the angels nodded. "As far as we can tell, yes. The ones at the lab are similar."

Cas frowned. "They are extensive… but they are temporary. They could easily have sunk them into the building's foundations. So why didn't they?"

"Perhaps they thought they might need to release them quickly."

Cas nodded. "Yes, but why…" His eyes widened, as he suddenly understood.

"Lucifer."

The younger angels started and looked around. "Where?"

Castiel raised an eyebrow at them, but didn't say anything. "They want to keep angels out, but they have hope that someday Lucifer will be free. If that happens, he may have need to visit these sites. And he is still an archangel."

Both of the younger angels nodded. "The wards would have to be temporary…" The older of the two said.

"Yes," Cas answered. "Temporary and easily broken. Probably from somewhere inside the buildings."

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Rufus was just finishing off his second glass of scotch and enjoying the finishing tastes of mint and chocolate when one of his phones rang.

"Turner."

Victor paused with his glass half way up to his lips at Rufus' annoyed expression.

"Yes I'm busy. I'm sitting here with another kid you sent me, drinking his scotch."

He listened for a bit. "You've got to be shitting me."

He listened a little longer. "So? What do you mean 'so'? You're planning to take on a building full of demons with only a handful of hunters and you expect me to help?"

Victor tilted his head, certain that he'd heard a little tinny voice on the other side of the phone line Turner was on yell out 'yes!'

Rufus slammed the phone down and glared at it.

"Uh…" Henricksen started, trying to think of what to ask that would actually get answered, when the phone rang again.

Growling, Rufus answered it.

"Fine, I'll be there as soon as I can." He looked up at Victor. "Should I bring the kid?"

Henricksen downed the last of his drink, suspecting he'd need the boost for whatever was coming.

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Ellen managed to answer her phone one ring before it would have gone to voice mail.

"Harvelle."

Jo paused in the middle of packing and turned towards her mother, who had gone uncharacteristically quiet.

"Okay Bobby, we'll be there as soon as we can." She ended the call and then looked at her daughter.

"Finish packing it up, we've got another job to get to."

The last few items went into their bags a little more haphazardly than normal. "We heading to Sioux Falls?"

Ellen nodded. "We'll meet up with Bobby and the Winchesters there, but the jobs in California." She tilted her head towards the motel room's door. "Come on, we've got a full days drive ahead of us."

Nodding, Jo started to take their duffels out to the car. "Think we should call in Roy and Walt? They're probably still in the area."

Ellen snorted. "Not a chance. This one's big. Those two, they'd just get us killed.

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Twenty-four hours of driving later, Ellen and Jo had beat Rufus to Bobby's place by a few hours.

They each downed a shot glass of Holy water. Ellen held out her glass once it was empty.

"I'll take some of that rotgut you're actually dumb enough to believe is whiskey.

Bobby snorted, grabbed a bottle off his desk and came back to pour her and himself a drink.

Jo very wisely stepped aside to talk with the boys.

"Hey."

Dean nodded at her. "Hey." He glanced over at Bobby and Ellen and raised an eyebrow at how comfortable the two of them seemed together. He gave his head a shake. They had known each other for a long time, had probably even hunted together a time or two. Of course they would be comfortable together.

"So, are you going to let me know what we're up against?"

Dean brought his attention back to Jo and gave her a half-hearted smile.

"Just as soon as Rufus and Henricksen get here."

Jo blinked. "Isn't he a little new to be involved in something like this?"

"Yeah, but he's a good man and he's dealt with demons before." Dean smirked slightly. "A lot of demons."

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Even though he'd done his research on Bobby Singer and knew what the man's day job was, this was the first time that Victor had actually seen the Salvage yard. The oddest thing about the place was that Bobby's house was so very much a house that at one time could have been a home. Something that with a little care would have been the farm version of a house with a white picket fence.

Instead, he had crushed cars and a gravel lot.

"So, you've known Bobby a long time, right?"

Rufus snorted. "Yeah, you could say that. Haven't actually seen the man in about fifteen years or so. Usually to only talk to him maybe once or twice a year." He shook his head. "Never thought I'd see the day I was back here."

While Victor was certain there was a hell of a story there, he was also certain that Rufus would decline to tell it.

Rufus parked his truck near the Impala and both men got out. Henricksen had dropped the rental he'd been driving off at the car company in Rochester, NY, as they cut across the top of the state on their way to South Dakota.

Victor was digging his duffle bags out of the back of the truck when he heard the house door open.

Singer stepped out on the porch. The two older men stared at each other for a moment and Victor almost jumped when Turner finally spoke.

"Bobby." He gave the man a nod.

The other hunter nodded back. "Rufus." He only then did he seem to notice Victor standing nearby. "Henricksen, good to see you again. Sam and Dean would like a word with you before the festivities begin."

Victor nodded, but didn't move. Neither did Rufus.

Bobby made a sighing noise that sounded as if he were being strangled. "Well? Get your asses in here." He turned and stomped back into the house.

Rufus snorted. "It's almost nice to see that some things never change."

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"Rufus."

"Dean, Sam." The older hunter shook their hands. "We starting in right away or is there someplace I can crash for a few hours?"

"Grab the room Sam and I are using. Upstairs, second on the right."

Rufus nodded and started up the stairs.

"Oh, Rufus. Ellen and Jo are in the room across the hall, so… don't get the wrong room."

"Gotcha."

Victor watched Rufus climb the stairs for a moment, before turning towards the two brothers. Both of them gave him worried smiles that immediately set him on guard.

"What?"

"How are you for sleep?"

"Napped in the car, so I'm good. Why?"

"'Cause what's going on would be enough to give a narcoleptic insomnia. So if you need sleep, you should get some first."

He shook his head. "I'm good."

"Okay then…" The brother's looked at each other. "Let's go outside."

Victor would have thought that they'd planned the talking together at the same time thing that happened with that last line, if it hadn't been for the mild look of surprise and annoyance they both had at doing it.

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"So, what's the job?" Henricksen asked once they'd dragged him off into one of the workshops.

"We need to infiltrate two, very, very large buildings full of demons. Once in, we need to find whatever they're using to power the wards in the place and destroy them, so our backup can take the buildings."

Victor shivered, as if someone had just dumped a bucket of cold water down his back.

"What's strong enough to take out a few buildings worth of demons, but can be warded against?"

Dean took a deep breath. "Angels."

Victor's mouth dropped open for a moment. He closed it with a click of his teeth. "You've got to be shitting me."

Dean shook his head. "Wish I was, but nope."

"But…" Victor frowned. "So, why tell me about this now? Why not wait and tell me along with everyone else?"

The brother's communicated something to each other with a look before Sam took up the story.

"Well, other than us and Bobby, you're the only one who's met Cas."

Victor shook his head, not understanding.

"See, it turns out that Cas' real name isn't Kaseva, it's Castiel."

"Uh?"

Dean made an exasperated noise. "He's an angel… As in Angel of the Lord. He took up some special mission from God involving us and went undercover. None of the other angels know about him having been Kaseva, and he needs to keep it that way."

Dean finished the information dump, his breathing a bit quicker than usual.

Victor found a crappy old kitchen chair over by one of the workbenches and sat down on it. He stared at the ground and tried to wrap his mind around what he'd just heard.

"You okay Victor?"

Henricksen glanced up at Sam to see the younger man looking down at him, a concerned look on his face.

"Ah, you two haven't perhaps gone crazy, have you?"

Sam shook his head. "Sorry, no such luck." The concerned look was still on his face.

Victor blinked as he realized he believed him. "Wow."

"Yeah, so, you okay?"

Victor intended to nod, but his head felt too heavy and it just dropped. "Yeah, just give me a moment to process." Actually, he suspected that he needed a year or two to do just that, but he didn't have that long, so a moment would have to do.

Dean ran a hand through his hair. "Look, we'll explain everything about the plan once everyone's recovered from getting here. We just need to know that you won't mention Cas' cover ID to the other angels."

Victor looked up at him. "Other angels." He buried his face in his hands and shook his head. "Other angels."

"Henricksen? You sure you're okay?"

Victor groaned, but raised his eyes so he could see them. "Yeah." He ran his hand over his scalp, remembering that he'd started shaving it years ago because he'd been afraid he'd pull it out by the roots over the stuff he saw on the job. Now, he figured it was doubly good that he was bald because his hair had probably turned grey sometime during the last few minutes.

"Henricksen? "

He raised a hand to stop Dean from saying anything more. "Don't worry; keeping Cas' cover is the easy part of this." He'd never gone undercover himself, but he'd worked with plenty of agents who had. "I know how to keep my mouth shut about things like that. It's just the angel and God parts I'm having trouble with."

Dean snorted. "Don't worry, you'll get over it. Might need to get drunk first, but you will."

Victor rubbed a hand over his face and then stood up. "I'll have to give that a try…once we've dealt with the demons." He shook his head. "And I thought they'd been the biggest thing to ever change my world view."

"Yeah." Dean grinned suddenly. "You realize that you've had more dumped on you in the first few months than most hunters would expect to run into in a life time?"

"That's not reassuring."

Dean lost his smile and sighed. "Wasn't really meant to be."

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Bobby's living room was crowded with seven hunters and three angels. Castiel had arrived with a male and a female angel and introduced them to the brothers as Ozael and Orael. It was a sure bet that only Castiel would be able to remember which was which. Like their names, the angels were similar in looks. Blond and suntanned. They were saved from giving off total Ken and Barbie vibes by possessing a muscle tone that only tri athletes usually had and a military like precision that they did everything with, even if it was just standing at attention next to Castiel.

"Everyone, find a seat." Bobby said, taking his usual one behind his desk. Others took up space on the couch, used the chairs from the kitchen or sat on the floor. The three angels simply remained standing.

Bobby nodded at Dean and Sam to start.

"Okay." Dean looked around at everyone, suddenly uncomfortable. "A few years ago, Sam and I ran into what apparently was a test run case for something called the Croatoan virus. It was used to infect some people, and they went on and affected others, and so forth, until just about an entire town had it."

Sam cleared his throat and joined in. "What Dean hasn't mentioned, is that anyone who comes down with the virus, essentially becomes a sort of zombie demon thing, only without being possessed."

"Joy." Was Ellen's dry assessment.

Bobby gave her a snort. "It gets better."

"How?"

Dean grimaced. "We…well; we came across some information about a pharmaceutical company, called Niveus. Apparently, most of the people working for them are demons and they've been working on making that virus even more efficient."

They paused while the rest of the hunters tossed off a few heartfelt swear words.

"Yeah. Anyway, we want to take the company down. More importantly, we want to destroy everything we can find about that virus. "

Rufus shook his head. "I've heard of this company, it's huge. We'd never be able to cover that much ground fast enough with only the… ten of us."

"That's were those three come in." Bobby said, waving a hand towards Cas and his two lieutenants.

Rufus frowned. "Just who the hell are they, anyway?"

Cas stepped forward. "My name is Castiel. This is Ozael and Orael. We are Angels of the Lord."

Dead silence.

Cas sighed and lightening lit up the room, even though it was still daylight out. In the flash, the shadow of huge wings painted the walls behind the three angels.

"Holy crap." Jo said, wide eyed from where she sat on the floor.

Ellen blew out a breath she'd been holding on to for too long. "Okay…maybe, but even three of you can't be everywhere at once… Can you?"

"No. However, there are another eighteen angels that will join in this operation."

"So, why do you need us?"

Cas tilted his head and looked at her. "You are our only way in."

Confused, Ellen looked at the Winchesters.

"The demons have the place covered in anti-angel wards. They need us to go in and break them before they can enter." Dean told her with a shrug.

"Oh, is that all."


	34. Chapter 34

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 34

"So, you expect us to run around and do what? Scrape a line through every ward in the place?" Ellen asked the angel, a disbelieving look on her face.

"No, that would take too long. Besides, many of the wards are invisible to the human eye."

Ellen threw her hands up in frustration. "Then how exactly are we supposed to help?"

Ozael, the male blond angel, looked to Castiel and once he had received a short nod, stepped forward to speak.

"We believe that it may be possible to take down the wards in each building with one blow."

Ellen narrowed her eyes at him. "Explain."

Castiel frowned slightly. He'd always know that Ellen Harvelle was a force to be reckoned with, but even he was surprised when Ozael stiffened to attention before continuing his report.

"Instead of tying their defences into the foundations or taking the time to renew them daily, the demons appear to be using a crystal to power them."

Bobby frowned. "Must be one hell of a crystal."

"Yes". The female angel, Orael said." We managed to… Hack their computers?" At everyone's nod she continued. "About a year and a half ago, Niveus bought two 500 lb pieces of quartz crystal, listed them as art and placed them in the foyer of the twelfth floor of the corporate headquarters and in a center atrium at the labs."

Ozeal took up the narrative. "We believe that one or more of the demons on the premises of both buildings recharges the crystal every month or so to keep the wards powered. We also believe that something was set up with each piece that would make it simple to cut the power and break the wards."

Everyone except the angels looked confused.

Castiel smiled slightly at the expressions on their faces, since confused was often how he felt when dealing with humans. "If their father is ever free to walk the Earth, then they would not want wards blocking his path."

Now everyone except Bobby and the Winchesters frowned. Henricksen ended up being the first to ask.

"Their father?"

"Lucifer. Even though he was cast down from Heaven, he is still an Archangel. The wards would work to keep him out and they would not want to do that." Castiel paused for a beat. "Nor would it be safe for them to do so."

"Knew I shouldn't have asked." The FBI agent said with a slightly dazed look in his eyes.

Every human in the place nodded in agreement.

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Sam and Dean were already locked into hitting the headquarters. Lots were drawn to see who would go with them, who would attempt to take out the wards at the labs and who would be stationed on the outside for logistic support and backup.

Henricksen ended up pulling the assignment at the headquarters with Sam and Dean. Jo, Rufus and Bobby ended up on lab duty, and Ellen pulled the slip to play mastermind

"How about a best two out of three on the draws?" Ellen asked.

"No." Jo said quietly, but firmly. She knew her mother wanted to either be on the same team as her or wanted to have her moved to the safer, behind the scenes job.

Ellen glowered at her daughter. "Fine."

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Instead of driving all the way to California from Bobby's place and ending up there exhausted, the group collected their gear and flew angel airways. Once they were there, Castiel fronted the cash for the equipment, cars and miscellaneous items they would need for the operation. For once, Dean wasn't in the mood to be curious enough about where Cas got his money.

After some discussion, they opted for a night-time infiltration, as it was likely there would be less human staff around at that time.

The teams split up and headed towards their separate goals.

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Dean lowered his binoculars.

"Demons."

Cas frowned slightly at the security guards at the entrance to Niveus' international corporate headquarters. "No, they are human. We are more likely to find the demons at the executive level."

"Damn. Looks like we'll have to try to find a way in from the back."

Cas gave Dean a look.

"What?"

Cas' look deepened and Dean slumped and sighed. "Damn it."

"We are not killing humans just because they're in the way." Henricksen said with a growl from the back seat.

"Relax, that's not what they were talking about." Sam said. He'd seen Dean and Cas do the eye thing enough that he could on occasion translate it.

Of course, there were some occasions when he suspected it would be better not to even try.

"We need to knock them out, tie them up and…" Dean gave Hendricksen a look and a wicked little smirk. "Borrow one of their uniforms."

The FBI agent rolled his eyes. "Great."

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Victor tugged the slightly too short sleeves of the security guard's blazer down a bit and tried to look imposing and efficient. Normally, that wouldn't have been a problem. However, he found it rather nerve wracking to listen to Sam and Dean off in a side office as they noisily tied the two guards down to the furniture and gagging them with whatever was available.

"It's your own fault dude. Socks should be changed daily."

Henricksen grimaced at the thought of dirty sock mouth and ignored them in favour of looking over the security desk. Two work areas, lamps, phones, computers, picture of a pretty woman, log books, procedural manuals…

No security screens, no emergency button, no key cards for above the eleventh floor…

"Will you be okay here?" Victor looked up to see Sam standing by the desk. Dean was over at the doors to the side office, closing them. The younger Winchester handed Henricksen one of the guards radios, the other already clipped onto his belt.

"Yeah." He said, answering Sam's question. He looked over the desks one more time. "From the set up here, I'd say there's a separate security force that starts at the twelfth floor."

Sam nodded. "Makes sense. They wouldn't want humans where the action is."

Dean joined his brother. "Be ready to book it out of here at a moments notice."

Victor tilted his head in agreement. "Not a problem."

xxxxxxxx

Ellen hacked into the lab's security cameras so she could watch the rest of the team as they approached the building. A police scanner broadcast random reports behind her, none of them concerning either her group or the Winchester's group.

At least, not yet.

They were running a basic damsel in distress, with Jo naturally as the damsel. Bobby and Rufus were hiding in the bushes, prepared to step in if things got dicey. Rufus with a salt loaded shotgun and Bobby with the Colt. The Winchesters had insisted he take it with him.

Wearing a teeny tiny little black dress and carrying a small clutch bag, Jo banged open handed on the glass door to Niveus Pharmaceutical's Research and Development labs.

One of the security guards opened the door while the other one stayed at the desk.

"Oh, thank goodness." Jo hugged herself. It wasn't cold out, but she managed to convey the impression that she had to be freezing in that dress. "My car broke down, I need some help."

The guard looked around. Not seeing anyone else, he tilted his head towards the desk. "Come on, you can use the phone."

"Thank you."

Jo's high heels clipped frantically fast across the tiled floor as she followed the guard to the desk. The second one gave her a small smile and went back to what he was working on.

"Here." The guard that had let her in reached over pulled one of the phones up onto the desks counter.

"Thanks, I just have to phone my auto club."

The guard nodded and backed up, but only slightly.

Jo picked up the handset and without telegraphing the move at all, lashed out with it, hitting the guard in the temple. He dropped and she pulled a tazer out of her clutch bag, shooting the second guard before he could move to intervene. The connections hit him in the chest and he fell. Jo could still hear him vibrating as she ran back to the door to let Bobby and Rufus in.

The hunters tested both men with a little Holy water, which was slightly redundant since they'd still be conscious if they'd been demons. They did it anyway, since Bobby and Rufus could both define themselves under the title of paranoid bastards. When the guards proved to be human, the two older men tied them to the desk's chairs and wheeled them into a nearby supply closet.

"Damn." Rufus grunted as he worked to fit the second guard into the small space. "I know the blonde angel… Oreo or whatever her name was, I know she said the guards were human, but I figured at least one of them had to be a demon." He unclipped their key chains and looked over the key cards attached to them. "Ah, they only have access to the front offices."

"So, the demons are further in." Jo said from behind them.

Rufus closed the closet door and nodded. "Yep." He looked Jo over. "Don't think we can get past them the same way we got in here." He stepped out of the building for a moment and retrieved the bags of weapons he'd hidden in the bushes.

From one of the bags, Jo collected a shotgun and her iron knife and a pair of running shoes, which she quickly changed into. Bobby still had the Colt, but he pulled out a shotgun from the second bag. Rufus just stayed with what he had and slung the third bag over one shoulder. The others did the same with their bags and started to move further into the building.

Out in the surveillance van, Ellen let out a sigh of relief, before tensing up again. It was still a long way to that central atrium and the crystal.

xxxxxxxx

Sam and Dean eased their way out of the elevator and into the open area of the foyer. Dean used the shotgun he was carrying as a pointer.

"Look."

Sam blinked at what sat in the middle of the space on a glass-covered pedestal.

Five hundred pounds of crystal was a lot of crystal. It was a clear, facetted cluster with spears pointed out in different directions. Sam wasn't sure if the crystal had been cut and polished or if that was just the way it was, but it was beautiful.

It was also vibrating.

Dean reached a hand out towards the glass. "Wow, I think my hair wants to stand on end." It wasn't static electricity, yet it felt like it should have been.

"Yeah."

The both stared at it a moment longer, before giving themselves a shake.

"Okay, let's figure out how to get into this thing."

The glass wouldn't move, and given the size of it, Dean wasn't sure the two of them could have lifted it off anyway. The only thing a quick search of the pedestal turned up was what looked like a fingerprint reader.

"So, we go cut off someone's hand, open it and do what ever we have to, to make it stop humming." Dean grit his teeth, because the vibration was becoming very annoying.

"Yeah." Sam said, not really paying attention. Instead, his attention was all on the print reader.

"Sam? Hey!" Before Dean could stop him, the younger Winchester placed his thumb down on the reader.

"Ow." Pulling away, Sam looked at the slightly oozing puncture mark in the pad of his thumb.

The reader came to life and words stated to flash across a small, attached screen.

'Sample taken… analyzed… human compounds… demon compounds…. Identity confirmed… Sam Winchester… vessel of Lucifer… need of access confirmed… system overload in 3...

Dean grabbed Sam and pulled him back.

2...

Turning they dove behind a couple of decretive pillars.

1...

The brothers slapped their hands over their ears. If they thought the humming had been annoying earlier, it was ear piercing, eye watering, teeth rattling obnoxious now.

All over the building glyphs flared into life, growing brighter and brighter as power pumped through them, until a limit was reached and passed. With a snap and a fizzle, every ward in the place cracked, darkened… and died.

Dean poked his head around one edge of the pillar, Sam the other.

"What the hell man?"

Sam shrugged. "It just came to me. Demons don't think much of humans, they wouldn't believe we'd ever find out about this place, much less manage to break in. So if I was here, it would have to be because I was Lucifer and they probably made sure that he could access all systems, regardless of what they were for."

Dean frowned. "You realize this means they got hold of your blood at some point."

Sam grimaced. "Yeah, well, we've certainly spilled enough of it over the years. Besides, I think my grade eight school nurse may have been a demon."

"Wait. That was the hot one."

"Yep."

"Damn."

xxxxxxxx

Victor peered up over the edge of the desk he'd ducked behind after a series of symbols flared to life over the building's walls. They were still there, only now they were blackened and flaking.

The Winchesters checked in with him through the stolen radios and warned him to be ready. He got a few minutes of peace, before he found himself back under the desk, his hands clasped over his ears. The angels had arrived, and not all of them had vessels.

xxxxxxxx

Cas made it to Sam and Dean before his brothers and sisters started the attack.

"If you want Brady, then we have to find him now."

They nodded and started to search.

Thankfully, the offices all had nameplates. Brady didn't rate a corner office yet and they found his workspace jammed into the middle of a run of smaller offices.

They burst through the door, shotguns at the ready, only to pull up, shocked.

"Wondered when you were going to get here."

Crowley smirked at them from his position standing behind a demon they hoped was Brady. It was a little hard to tell, because said demon's head was covered with a bloodied canvas bag with a devil's trap painted on the face of it.

Dean levelled his shotgun at the two of them. "Crowley? What are you doing here?"

The demon shrugged. "I provide gift wrapping." He gave the bagged demon a poke. "I've also sealed him into this body, so he isn't going anywhere. Just make sure he doesn't survive. I don't need him tattling on me."

The very air started to vibrate as the other angels started to arrive.

"That appears to be my cue. See you later." He gave the demon another poke and wiggled his eyebrows at Castiel and the Winchesters. "Have fun." Crowley was gone the next moment.

Dean turned towards Cas. "Are you sure we need him?"

Castiel sighed. "Unfortunately, yes." Dismissing Crowley's involvement for the moment, he pointed at Brady. "Grab him, and I'll get you back to Bobby's place." They already had a devil's trap set up in one of the salvage yard's larger workshops.

The brothers did as instructed.

"Don't forget Henricksen." Sam reminded the angel.

Cas nodded and with a touch, they were in the lobby, behind the desk where the FBI agent was huddled. Suspecting that the man wouldn't be able to hear him with his hands over his ears, Castiel grabbed onto him and before he could react, they were somewhere else.

xxxxxxxx

Bobby watched a demon light up and die, while Jo and Rufus winced at the noise and kept an eye out. That was the problem with the Colt; it was effective, but loud. Thankfully, other than a couple of the labs on the far side of the complex that seemed to be working around the clock, the rest of the building was near empty.

Two demons leapt out of the double doors in front of them, as if trying to prove Bobby's last thought wrong.

"Balls." Bobby shot the one closest to him. Something like lightning seemed to crawl under the demon's skin as it died.

The other one stared at the body for a moment, before he turned tail to run back though the door he'd just come through.

Smoothly, Jo flung her knife and buried it into the demon's back before he managed to disappear into the dark room beyond the doors. His legs tangle in each other and he went down.

"Damn." Jo said, frowning as the demon continued to try to crawl away. "Why doesn't he just smoke out of there?"

"Huh." Bobby and Rufus spared each other a glance as they realized they'd said that together. Rufus indicated with a wave of his hand that Bobby should take the lead.

"Doesn't happen very often, but sometimes with iron, the demon'll get pinned into the body until the blade is removed."

The two men moved towards the crawling demon. Each of them took an arm and hauled him to his feet.

"Wouldn't happen to know where the giant crystal is at, would you?" Bobby asked, still taking lead.

The guy looked at him as if he was nuts and pointed off into the darkness.

Behind them, Jo found the light switch and snapped it on.

The sudden light was bad enough, but the giant, glass covered crystal at the rooms centre nearly blinded them.

The demon wrenched his arms out of their hold and promptly fell flat on his face. Rolling their eyes, the two of them picked him back up and dragged him over to the crystal, dropping him in a heap beside the pedestal.

Bobby kept an eye on him while Jo and Rufus looked the crystal and case over.

"Looks like a thumbprint reader over here." Rufus said, poking his head around glass case. Bobby looked down at the demon and raised an eyebrow.

The bastard apparently had gotten his second wind, because he struggled as they dragged him around the pedestal. He only stilled when Bobby held the Colt to his head and Rufus slammed the demon's thumb into the print reader.

"Ah." The demon yanked his hand free and Bobby frowned when he noticed that the guy's thumb was now bleeding.

A small screen, attached to the reader, powered up.

Sample taken… analysing… demon confirmed… minimal access… require sample from second source to verify… sample required in 30... 29... 28.

"Ah, crap." The three hunters looked around the room, as if expecting a second demon to just pop up and be useful.

21... 20... 19 … 18.

"What about the dead demon by the door?" Jo asked, slightly frantic.

The men shook their heads. "Empty meat suit, it'll probably read as human.

12... 11... 10.

"Balls." Bobby pulled back the hammer on the Colt… and shot the print reader.

Forked tongues of power travelled out of the damaged piece of hardware in a wave and moved up the sides of the case. The hunters ducked as the glass shattered. The electrical charge… or whatever it really was, crawled across the pedestal and started to climb the crystal.

Bobby, Rufus and Jo backed away, quickly.

Unnoticed, the print reader's cracked screen sputtered back to life.

Overload in process… 3... 2... 1...

The three of them dropped to the floor as the crystal cracked. As it did, every sigil in the building flared to bright life and the stench of something unpleasant being burned was everywhere. The crystal cracked again and a shower of crystal shards showered across the floor. Every mark darkened, leaving the walls covered in pealing scorch marks.

xxxxxxxx

Ellen flipped open her phone at the first ring.

"We need retrieval, now."

She nodded at the blonde female angel who had been standing by. With a blink, she was gone and before Ellen could finish taking her next breath, she was back with Jo, Bobby and Rufus. The three of them looked a little worse for the wear, but they were still in one piece.

Orael disappeared while Ellen was hugging her daughter.

"Ack… Mom."

"Live with it."

Behind them, the police band radio lit up with information about the 911 calls from Niveus' assorted human employees, security guards included, who suddenly found themselves in a park miles from both buildings.

Ellen's phone rang again, which was the only reason she stopped hugging her daughter.

"Go ahead." She listened for a moment. "Great, the wards are down here as well and it sounds like the angels already got everyone human out, so any time your friend wants to pick us…"

Everyone felt a slight lurch, and then Castiel opened the van's back doors.

"It is done."

Slightly disbelieving they looked out onto Bobby's salvage yard.

"Beats flying." Jo said.

Cas frowned at her.

"Uh, by plane, that is."

"Ah." He nodded and walked off towards the workshop, to rejoin Dean and Sam.


	35. Chapter 35

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

New author's note: Christmas is kicking my butt. Things will be a bit slow chapter wise. It may be mid January before the next one. Sorry.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 35

Standing across the street from Niveus' Corporate Headquarters, Crowley watched for a few minutes as the angels took the place apart. He had to congratulate himself on his keen sense of timing, both for being and getting out of there at the most opportune moments. True, once he'd told the boys about Niveus he knew they would hit the place. All he'd had to do was get a meeting with a mid-level demon that was looking to climb the ranks and hang about after it was done.

The timing was less impressive if he acknowledged the fact that he'd been prepared to do this several nights in a row and had just lucked out on the first one.

After leaving the meeting getting to Brady had been relatively easy. The executive lacked his usual bodyguards and hanger-on's. He was in the doghouse for losing the Winchesters and had taken a bump down in corporate standing. Really, the demon was lucky he'd gotten away with only that and a little torture as payment for the mistake.

Crowley hated that kind of luck, at least when it came to demons other than himself. Therefore, he'd been happy to lend a hand and make Brady's worse. Sadly, the demon inside of Brady didn't remember enough of its human life to know just why Crowley had beaten him over the head with an iron crowbar and fed him to the Winchesters, but you couldn't have everything, could you?

Still, if he'd been paying attention, he might have wondered why Crowley called him uncle, just before his lights went out.

Crowley let a small smile grace his lips at the memory and then walked away, not willing to risk the notice of the angels across the street by accessing any of his powers. A block later he hailed a taxi and had it take him to 'anywhere but here'.

As they drove away, Crowley's thoughts turned to the third man, or rather angel, who had come in with the Winchesters. The aura of power and righteousness the being possessed was impossible to mistake. It didn't take much to guess that he was the one that had pulled Dean out of Hell and was probably the one that had been guarding him the day Crowley had come across Dean at the salvage yard.

Which might be why he'd seemed familiar to the crossroads demon. However, Crowley felt like he was missing something, something he'd previously had shoved right in his face and was failing to notice now.

He made an amused noise, aimed at himself and put it aside for the moment. Whatever it was, it would come to him.

Eventually.

xxxxxxxx

The angels swept through all of Niveus. The main building, the labs, the warehouse and distribution centres were all hit at the same time. Angels in vessels pulled the humans out, depositing them safely away from the buildings, while the other angels left dead demons in their wake. Files were destroyed or sent to one of Bobby's outbuildings, experiments were terminated, samples were fried, bodies disposed of. They were being careful, so it took longer than it usually would for them to purify the places. Even so, it was less than ten minutes before each building was nothing but a hollowed out shell.

xxxxxxxx

Sam paced the edge of the devil's trap while Dean tied Brady down to a very sturdy chair at the centre of it. Cas leaned against a workbench and watched the both of them.

Demon secured, Dean looked up at his brother and the angel. "Okay then. Cas, you staying for the party?"

Castiel straightened and shook his head. "No, I need to check in with my people and see how the attack went." He hesitated and then continued. "I should also prepare for a reprimand. With this action I have overstepped my bounds somewhat."

Cas was gone before Dean could ask him if he'd be all right.

xxxxxxxx

Bobby poured everyone except Rufus a glass of whiskey. The other hunter had produced his own flask when Bobby had offered him a drink, knowing that his old friend's taste in liquor was at best mediocre.

Once everyone had a drink in hand, Bobby raised his in a toast.

"To pulling off the job and not dying."

Everyone else in the room raised their glasses and echoed the sentiment.

They downed their drinks, Jo and Henricksen gasping slightly in reaction to Bobby's whiskey.

"So what now, Bobby Singer?" Ellen came up beside him and lightly hip checked him as she asked her question.

Bobby sighed. "Now I spend the next few weeks going through all the paper work the angels lifted from Niveus." He hadn't had the chance to check the contents of the outbuilding he'd put aside to store the stuff, but he expected it to be massive. "If anybody would like to help..?"

Almost everyone looked at him with panicked expressions.

"Ah, I've still got a few more sight to see before my vacation is up and I have to go back to my own paperwork." Henricksen backed up slightly.

Jo backed up with him. "I'm sure that there's a hunt that'll need taking care of while you're busy."

Bobby snorted. "Rufus?"

"I'd like to tell you to stuff it, but there's no way I'm going to pass up that much info. Because knowing you, you'll pass it on, but only if you need to."

"Ellen?"

"Yeah, I'll help. Knowing you two if someone isn't around to kick you in the pants every time you start bickering, nothing 'll get done."

Both men glared at her, but neither of them refuted her statement.

"What about the boys?"

Bobby looked out towards the yard. "I suspect they'll have their hands full with other things.

xxxxxxxx

Dean ripped the canvas bag off Brady's head and stepped out of the circle.

Bloody from his introduction to Crowley's crowbar, Brady none the less looked up at them and smirked. "Well, here we go."

Dean took up Cas' previous position against the workbench and watched as Sam paced the edge of the devil's trap like a panther stalking prey.

"Why'd you pick Brady?"

The demon looked at Sam like he had to be kidding. "Come on, Brady here? He was a good kid, straight arrow. Your best friend, really. Perfect point of access."

Sam's hands curled into fists. He glared at the thing in front of him and demon Brady smirked, winding Sam up further.

"Why?" Dean's voice behind him was unexpected and startled both of them.

"What?"

"Why did you need the access?"

Brady's smirk grew larger. "We could tell that we were starting to lose him."

Sam frowned. "We? So, you, Azazel and… Meg, maybe?"

"Nah, She and her brother were working the Hell side of the equation at that time. So it was just me and the boss man, watching you." He shook his head. "You were losing your edge, becoming a mild mannered worthless sack of piss." He smiled again. "We couldn't have that, now could we? You were our favourite."

"So, you introduced me to Jess."

"Yep. I hooked you up with a pure, sweet, innocent piece of tail… and then I toasted her on the ceiling."

That was not a revelation that Dean had been expecting. He felt it, and the truth of it hit him in the gut. And if he felt like that, then Sam…

He looked to his brother, the expression on Sam's face that of a man attempting to swallow a giant ball of pain, guilt, and anger that was far to large for him to consume.

Brady laughed. "That's right, Azazel may have put the hit out on Jessica, but I'm the one that got to have all the fun." The demon hesitated at the look in Sam's eyes.

"Oh, man. You thought that maybe because I'd introduced you, that Jess might have been one of us too." His smile was far too wide. "Sorry." He laughed again. "She was so surprised. So hurt when I started in on her."

Sam would have been on him right then and there, but Dean had moved up beside him and held him back with a hand on his shoulder.

"Dean." Sam's breathing was laboured, as if he were being pressed under an immense weight.

Dean squeezed his brother's shoulder and then fixed his eyes on Brady. "There are some things we need to know. About Meg, about the plan to raise Lucifer, about all of it."

Brady shook his head and sighed. "I think I'm done talking now."

Dean narrowed his eyes at him. "You sure? Might save yourself some pain."

Brady scoffed at the idea. "If I actually told you any of that stuff, there's a good chance that I'd never stop knowing pain. Trust me; you're a lot less scary than they are."

Dean shook his head and went over to pick up a book that was sitting on the workbench. He carried it to his brother and handed it to him.

The demon laughed lightly. "Let me guess. Now you're going to tell me that if I spill everything, then you'll just exorcise me instead of using that knife of yours."

Sam stared at the cover of the book for a moment. "No. If you tell me everything I want to know, then I'll kill you. Lie, or keep your mouth shut and I'll exorcise you."

Brady's eyebrows hit his hairline. "Are hunters generally dyslexic? Because I think you've got that backwards."

Sam opened the book, the pages falling naturally to the section he wanted. "No, I don't have it backwards." And then he started to read.

xxxxxxxx

Five hours into the exorcism and Dean stepped out of the workshop, needing some air. Sam stayed inside, his eyes still glued to Brady as the demon writhed and screamed and begged to tell them everything. Dean had wanted to stop about half an hour after the pleading had begun, but Sam refused and unfortunately, he was the one who knew how to break the ritual they were using.

"Am I going to have to go in there and kick your brother's ass?" Bobby asked as he walked up to the pile of cars that Dean was leaning against.

Dean sighed, but shook his head. "No, I'm giving him another ten minutes and then I'll go do it myself."

Bobby nodded and took up a position against the stack of crushed cars that was similar to the one Dean was affecting. "Good, 'cause my poor ears can't take much more of it. Besides, I don't think it's real healthy for Sam to cause anyone this much suffering, even if I do think the guy deserves it."

"Preaching to the choir."

Both men jerked slightly as the screams cut off. Dean grimaced and straightened up. "Looks like Sam's ready for round two." He headed towards the workshop.

Bobby called out after him. "Just try 'n keep the rest of it down to a dull roar."

Dean gave him a backwards wave and went into the shop.

Still tied to the chair, Brady was a sweaty, stained and panting mess. Sam didn't look a whole lot better. His face was too pale. His eyes were too shadowed.

As soon as Dean walked in, Sam thrust the book into his hands. Their eyes met and Dean nodded, understanding that no matter what, Sam didn't want to use that ritual again.

It was almost a relief to know that his little brother knew just how much he was damaging himself by keeping another being in pain.

Sam turned to the demon in the circle and quietly started the questioning again.

And Brady told them everything.

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Cas had just finished debriefing the twenty angels he'd sent to raid Niveus. Thankfully, Ozael and Orael had understood his between the lines instructions to protect themselves and their people in case this action blew up in Castiel's face.

A flutter of wings and someone he hadn't expected to see stood beside him.

"Uriel." Cas buried his desire to plant a sword in the other angel's chest. As far as he knew, the Uriel of now wasn't killing off angels that disagreed with him…

Cas came close to wincing. The road he'd been going down would have seen him doing the same, even if it had been for better reasons.

"Zachariah asked me to escort you to an audience with him."

Well, that figured. The question was, how bad was it going to be?

Castiel gave the other angel one short nod. "Of course, but I am surprised to see you. I thought you were busy guarding the prophet." He started to move in the direction that would take them to their superior.

Uriel snorted at the idea. "Since he has purchased his new home the man does little more than drink, sleep, write and occasionally, fornicate."

Cas' eyebrows rose. "I believe that is more information than I wanted to know."

Uriel laughed. "I could have done with less myself."

xxxxxxxx

Dean looked at Brady. The demon stood swaying at one end of the workshop as Dean blocked the only way out of the space with a thick line of salt. They'd broken the demon, broken him hard, but like any denizen of Hell, he'd learned to roll with it. Already a shadow of his former snark was leaking back. Give him a few days and he'd be the complete bastard they'd first dragged in here.

"What is this?" Brady asked.

Sam stepped across the salt line, demon-killing blade in hand.

"You told us everything we wanted to know. I think you didn't even lie." His lips twitched into an almost smile. "And I try to keep my promises. Especially the ones I look forward to."

Brady eyed the knife and backed up a step.

Behind Sam, Dean shook his head. "All these demons…" He laughed. "Hell, angels too, they just don't get it, do they Sammy?"

Sam shook his head. "No they don't, Dean."

Dean smiled grimly at the confused demon. "You see Brady, we're the ones you should be afraid of."

Normally, Brady would have laughed at the man. However, what he'd gone through was evidence in favour of Dean's statement.

Sam raised the knife and started towards Brady. The demon backed up another step and tried to dredge up his usual attitude.

"Big moment for you. Gonna make you feel all better?"

Sam's eyes narrowed. "It's a start."

"Surprised you didn't slap me back into that exorcism. Of course, it takes a while. How many days did you have me in it?"

Both brothers looked at him in surprise. Dean answered him.

"You mean hours."

"What?"

"You were in it for five hours. The whole thing takes about twelve, usually."

Brady backed up until he his back hit a wall, his eyes wide. All the things he been going to say, all the taunts he could have thrown in Sam's face, were lost to a not unreasoning sense of panic.

Panicking and trapped people tend to be dangerous, that goes double for demons.

Brady screamed and leapt at Sam, lashing out. The hunter was ready for him. He used the knife to slash him across his outreached arm and used the force of the demon's jump to turn Brady towards the wall, getting a second slash along his ribs in while he did.

Brady gasped and turned, laughing. "Ever think that maybe, somewhere along the way, you've become worse than a demon?"

"I did briefly." With a quick stride forward, Sam buried the knife in Brady's chest. The demon gave a startled gasp, light flashed in patches beneath his skin. "But if I really were, I'd have spent the rest of my life putting you through the first five hours of that exorcism and enjoying it." He pulled the knife out and Brady slumped to the floor, dead.

Sam turned and walked away from the body, handing the knife over to Dean as he passed him. "I'm going for a walk, alone."

Dean hesitated for a moment. "I'll get this cleaned up while you're gone."

Sam paused at the door for a moment and then nodded. "Thanks." He stepped out of the building, picked a direction, and started walking.

He made sure not to look back.

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Henricksen was back on the road, with Jo sitting in the passenger seat. Bobby had pretty much kicked them out and Victor felt a guilty relief that he hadn't been roped into corpse disposal. He knew the real person had probably been dead long before one of the brothers had stabbed him, but he had a hard time meshing FBI agent with being on the other side of a body dump.

"So." Jo asked, pulling him out of his thoughts. "Where are we headed?"

Henricksen shrugged. "Don't know. Dean suggested a visit to the largest ball of twine, somewhere in Missouri, but I think I'll give that a pass."

Jo shook her head and pulled out her laptop. "Well then, let's see if we can't find something more our speed.'

"Our?"

She planted her elbow into his side. "Yeah, our."

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Dean helped Bobby wrap Brady's body in a light coloured tarp and load it into the back of an old beater of a van. As Bobby wanted to get started on Niveus' files, Dean drove the van the four hours to Fargo, with Sam following behind in the Impala. Once they got there, Dean passed the van onto an acquaintance of Bobby's that they'd never met before. The guy didn't wait for introductions. Just collected the keys and drove off.

It would be a couple of days before they heard about the body being found in Bakersfield, California.

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Bobby, Ellen and Rufus each took a deep breath and stepped into the Quonset hut that had been set aside for Niveus' paperwork.

Boxes, stacks of paper and whole filing cabinets seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see.

Rufus shook his head. "Why do I get the feeling that somewhere in this mess we're going to find the Ark of the Covenant?"

Bobby let out a huff of air that already sounded exhausted. "Wouldn't surprise me at all."

XXX

Author's note: Don't know if it meant anything, but in the show, Crowley does say 'Evening Uncle' before he proceeds to beat the crap out of Brady with a crowbar. I just decided to use it.


	36. Chapter 36

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 36

"What in all of Creation's name you were thinking?" Unbound, Zachariah's true voice was loud enough to make a human's head explode and even Castiel and Uriel winced painfully at the sound of it. Cas quickly decided that this was not the time to play dumb. He might get some odd sense of enjoyment out of annoying his 'boss', but it would do him more harm than good at the moment.

He stiffened to military straightness and explained himself in his usual monotone.

"I was thinking that some of the angels under my command needed to see action. That a nest of demons needed to be scrubbed from the face of the Earth and that the righteous man needed to be protected from any further attempts to have him turned."

Zachariah froze with his mouth still open. Cas took it as an invitation to continue.

"A demon recently hired some vampires and instructed them to find and turn the righteous man. That demon was in the Niveus Headquarters when we attacked."

He'd almost have to thank Crowley for that…almost.

Zachariah started to breathe again. "You believe it was dealt with?"

Castiel nodded. "No further such attempts should occur where that demon is concerned."

Zachariah sat down heavily at his desk and made an effort to composed himself. When he looked back up at the two of them, the smile on his face made both of them want to take a step back.

"Well Castiel, I'm glad to see that you're taking such good care of your charges. Given that care, I believe you should be promoted to a much more important charge, temporarily at least."

"Sir?"

"As you know, Uriel is the archangel protecting the prophet. He is doing an excellent job, but I believe he would benefit from some time spent with the righteous man. While he is doing that, you could have the honour of watching over Chuck Shurley for a time."

Castiel frowned and then because he had to, he out and out lied. "I am not an archangel."

"No, but you can deal with the smaller problems that might crop up and call Uriel to you for any threat that would require his strength."

Cas nodded his acceptance. Inside he was seething, but it would do little good to let his superior know that. It would only spur him to continue this latest farce longer.

"So, I am to watch Castiel's mud monkeys for him?" Uriel asked, speaking up for the first time since they'd come before Zachariah.

Cas winced. "I would not call them such to their faces brother."

Uriel and Zachariah snorted. It was a little thing, expected even, but Castiel tensed and gave serious thought to killing both of them and being done with this.

He forced himself to relax. He was overreacting, and while he was certain that he would have to cut his ties with Heaven at some point, he wasn't ready to be hunted for killing his brothers.

"I believe it would be best if I told Dean and Sam about the change of guard

The expression on Zachariah's face reminded Castiel of a picture he'd once seen of a man with a bug up his nose. Or perhaps it was his ass.

"Very well, if you must."

Cas and Uriel both gave their superior something between a nod and a bow and left the 'office' as Zachariah turned to other work.

xxxx

"Shall I go with you while you explain things to the humans?"

Cas shook his head. "It would be best if I dealt with them alone, at first. I will call for you once…" He broke off and tilted his head, looking his brother over. "You are missing something."

Uriel frowned and then his hand went to his throat. "The grace, yes. Zachariah ask me for it shortly before I went to protect the prophet. He felt that it would need more protection than just one angel." Uriel chuckled. "Even one archangel."

"Ah." Castiel nodded, but inside he was frowning. Zachariah's interest in Anna's grace meant something. He just didn't know what.

xxxx

Ellen dropped the file she'd been looking at onto the kitchen table with a disgusted and slightly green look on her face. "If the FDA had seen some of this, Niveus would have been out of business long ago."

Rufus looked up from the file he was reading. "That assumes there aren't demon's in the FDA."

Ellen grimaced and picked up another file. "True."

Bobby stood up and stretched, before giving the two of them a look. "So, Coffee, beer or whiskey?"

"Coffee." Ellen said, deciding for all of them. "If I start drinking anything stronger I'm not going to stop until I'm drunk." She gave the last file another disgusted look. "So ask me that question again in a few more hours."

Bobby gave her a huff of laughter and then went to put on the coffee.

xxxx

Gabriel, or rather Loki, had been following Crowley off and on since they'd met. Cas had extracted a promise from him that he wouldn't kill the demon, before leaving the payback for the whole turning Dean and trying to kill Kaseva mess in his hands.

Things like this were why Earth was so much more fun than Heaven.

Mixing a good prank with a dose of justice was… well, it was what Gabriel/Loki was made for. But you had to work up to it. Start small and see what annoyed the target. Find out what they would ignore and what well and truly would get under their skin, borrowed though it might be in this case.

He just hadn't expected to have so much trouble stalking one little demon.

Crowley was almost as paranoid as the Winchester's friend Bobby was, at least when it came to angels. There wasn't an inch of his home that wasn't covered in Enochian warding. The solid, blood sacrifice, sunk into the foundations type warding. Looking them over, Gabriel suspected that it would actually be easier to enter Hell and attack the demon when he was dealing with business there.

Still, Crowley did leave the house from time to time and more importantly, shipments came into the house.

Shipments like, a twelve-bottle case of thirty-year-old Craig whiskey.

xxxx

Cas mentally searched for the Winchesters and was rather disturbed to discover that they were in Carthage, Missouri. He appeared in the back of the parked Impala, startling the brothers.

"Damn it Cas… some warning would be nice." Dean complained.

"Apologies, but I still believe the warning would be just as startling."

Sadly, Dean realized that he couldn't argue with that.

"So, what's up?" Dean turned in his seat to look at the angel. "You didn't get into trouble over the Niveus thing, did you?"

Cas gave his head a slight tilt. "To a degree. I have been reassigned for a time."

Dean and Sam winced at the news.

"The new assignment is fine; however, they have appointed another angel to you. His name is Uriel, he has archangel status… and you won't like him."

"Great." Dean said sarcastically.

"I will have to call him here, to introduce you to him. He will probably take that opportunity to disappear your hex bags."

"Double great. I am not making those gross ones again."

Cas gave him a small huff of a laugh. "I will leave you the instructions for the ones I usually give you. Sam can probably recreate them."

Dean huffed and straightened in his seat, tensing slightly as a man with a lost expression began to walk down the street.

"What are you hunting?" Cas asked.

"Rougarou."

Sam made an annoyed sound.

Dean sighed. "Fine, guy who might become a Rougarou, if he ever eats human flesh. We've warned him, which is why he looks like someone hit him over the head with a frying pan." He frowned. "We didn't do this hunt last timeline, did we?" Cas frowned as well and Dean turned his head to look at him again. "Or should I stop asking time travel related questions?"

"No, you never know when such a question may be important. As for this… Originally, I was very busy trying to keep the seals from breaking. I only noticed your regular hunts if they were more life threatening or unusual than… usual."

"So, we were good on this one?"

"It had its share of close calls. You survived and Sam made the decision to stop using the powers the demon blood gave him." Something that should have made his superiors happy, but he now realized that there had been a lot of teeth gritting going on at the time.

Sam looked disturbed. "That sounds like something bad happened."

"Possibly." Castiel knew he had looked over the report on this incident because of Sam's decision and Dean nearly getting eaten, but for the most part he had only skimmed it. "I don't know what or why… but I believe whatever caused it had something to do with the fact that that man's wife is pregnant."

"Ah crap. Travis."

xxxx

Jack sat down on a bus stop bench, and was staring blankly into middle space when a black car pulled up in front of him.

"Get in." He recognized the shorter of the two men who had come to talk with him that afternoon.

"Look, I haven't…"

"We know. We think something's wrong at your house. Now get in."

Panicked enough to move without thinking, Jack slid into the Impala's backseat. A third man that he didn't know nodded at him from the other seat.

"What's happening?" Jack almost didn't recognize his own voice, it was that strained.

The man in the front seat with the longer hair answered him. "There's another hunter involved in this. We think he's about to do something… stupid."

Jack fumbled his phone out of his pocket and called home. No one picked up. He made a quick check and found a voice mail message from his wife, asking him to come home and that she needed to talk with him about something.

Which meant she should have still been at home to answer.

"No." That one word felt like a punch to the gut for everyone in the car.

Cas sighed. He knew he shouldn't get involved, but… he could hardly turn his responsibility over to Uriel in mid conflict.

At least, that would be the story if anyone asked.

"What is your address?"

"What?"

Sam reeled it off to him before Cas could ask again. With a nod, the angel shifted his appearance to the more casual version of his Kaseva costume and disappeared.

"What the fuck!"

"It's okay man. If she's in trouble, he'll get her out." Sam explained.

"Who the hell are you people?" Okay, maybe he wasn't what you could call normal, but that was so far left of normal he didn't know what it was.

xxxx

Cas appeared in the living room. From his position, he could see Jack's wife, tied to a chair with a tea towel across her mouth as a gag. He didn't see the hunter anywhere.

He came up behind the bound woman and untied the gag.

"Shh."

"Jack?" She asked quietly, trying to twist around to look at him.

"N…" A man came up behind him and shoved a cloth with a sickly sweet smell on in into his face. Cas shrugged him off, turned, looked at him for a moment and then gave him a push.

He used a little more strength than he should have. The guy landed flat on the dining room table in the next room. He groaned and tried to sit up.

"You should stay down." Cas told him, before going back to finish untying the young woman.

"Who are you… and where's Jack?" There were tears in her voice.

"My name is Kaseva. Jack is with some friends of mine, they should be here shortly."

He helped her stand. Noises from the dining room caught their attention and they both turned to see that Travis hadn't followed Cas' suggestion.

"Or we could go to them," he said.

xxxx

Travis had a flamethrower in hand and was just about to light it up when the Rougarou's wife and the, whatever it was, that had just thrown him across the room simply blinked out of existence.

Back in the Impala, Dean looked around confused as he heard a small chime going off. Cas and Mrs. Montgomery appeared in the backseat next to Jack a moment after.

"Michelle."

Eyes wide, she apparently decided to go with hugging her husband over trying to make sense of any of this.

Dean pulled over to the curb. They were still a couple of blocks from Jack's place.

"Cas?"

"I do not believe I like that friend of yours."

"Yeah well, he used to hunt with dad. They were kind of old school."

Cas shook his head. "I do not believe there is any school where a hunter should kidnap an innocent to use as bait. Especially when it isn't necessary to complete the kill."

"What, you think this guy can stay on the straight and narrow?"

"I do not know. I only know that Jack would not have been very difficult to ambush without such bait. The hunter was going to kill both of them and he wasn't going to make it easy." He'd seen that much in the man's eyes before he'd pushed him away, which might have had some bearing on why he'd over done that.

Jack and his wife unclenched. "What do you mean?"

Cas gave them a brief glance. "He had chloroform. He could have made sure you were unconscious for what he had to do. However, he was only going to use it to capture Jack. He fully intended for the both of you to be awake when he burned you alive."

Michelle sobbed and buried her face in her husband's chest. "Why?"

Jack closed his eyes and held onto her. "Because of me. Oh, God. I am so sorry this had to touch you."

"Actually, I believe he originally intended to let your wife go once you were dead."

"Then why?"

"She told him she was pregnant."

The Montgomery's were busy hugging again and Dean gave the still disguised angel beside them a wry look. "I think we need to take this discussion some place safer."

With a nod from Cas they all disappeared, car included.

xxxx

Dean shook his head and then looked the house over. "Victorian. Haven't seen this one before. "Where are we?"

"North Dakota."

"Huh, I would have thought that the cabin would have been closer."

Cas had a suddenly irritated look on his face. "Loki has been annoying the neighbours there. It would be best not to use it for a time."

"Ah."

"So," Dean asked as he looked over to where Jack and Michelle were huddled together on a couch. "What do we do about them?"

Mrs. Montgomery apparently heard him. "I want an explanation."

With a sigh, Sam and Dean sat down on the couch across from the couple. Cas, or rather Kaseva, took up a standing position behind the same couch.

It was a very long explanation.

xxxx

Realizing that Uriel was probably becoming very irritated at the delay, Castiel shifted his appearance and his wards, moving them back to the power levels he presented as an angel before flying to meet him. He found him watching over the prophet.

Chuck was obviously running full throttle, whatever visions he saw translating themselves to the keyboard at a furious rate. Invisible and soundless, Uriel stood behind him, reading the text as it came up on the screen.

Castiel stiffened as he arrived beside the other angel. He'd never though Uriel would bother to read what Chuck was writing, even if it was the Word of God. Cas realized that he had been steering clear of the prophet ever since killing Raphael and that was a foolish thing to do.

Uriel looked up from the screen. "Brother, I was beginning to think you were avoiding me."

"No. Castiel tilted his head as he read what was on Chuck's computer screen. "I have been preparing the Winchesters. Unfortunately, they are in the middle of a hunt. Introductions would be difficult to do at the moment."

Castiel frowned at the screen as he realized that he was reading the hunt for a Rougarou, only from the differences, this one was running the way it had in the original timeline. It was quite likely that Chuck was still seeing both futures.

"I should get back to them."

Uriel frowned at him.

"I will call you once the matter has been dealt with. It would be best if they didn't have other distractions when I introduce you."

The other angel gave him a snort, but nodded and went back to watching Chuck. Cas gave the computer screen one more concerned look and then disappeared.

xxxx

Sam and Dean stepped out onto the safe house's porch. From the exterior, the place turned out to be an abandoned farmhouse. The Impala was parked at the front steps.

Their trip outside for fresh air was partly to let Jack and Michelle talk things over and partially so Sam could answer his phone. Travis had already called them three times since they'd arrived.

"Hey Travis." Sam pulled the phone away from his ear at the explosion of sound.

"Where the hell are you two? They got away.'

Carefully Sam put the phone back to his ear. "What do you mean, they. I thought we were only hunting Jack."

"His wife is pregnant. We have to take her out as well."

"Or… we could wait until she has the kid and then take it out." Sam frowned at the silence on the other end.

"What, you think I could kill a baby?"

Sam shook his head. "Okay, so you're saying you can't kill a baby once it's been born, but you can kill it and the innocent mother that's carrying it as long as it's in the womb? Either way you cut it, both options are sick."

"Sam."

"Look, you're on your own. Dean and I are done. We're already out of the state."

"Fuck." There was a loud noise and then the line went dead.

Sam closed his phone.

"Ever think we'll end up with as many falling outs as Dad did?" Dean asked him.

Sam laughed. "Probably, but I suspect that it'll be for better reasons."

Dean nodded in agreement and they both went back into the house.

xxxx

Sometime during the night, Jack had made a choice. He wanted his wife, his family and nothing, not even his own hunger was going to get in that way.

Well, nothing except for one thing.

"Michelle?"

His wife hugged herself, staring at her body like she expected it to betray her.

He was just reaching out to her when the guy who was dressed all in black, the one who'd saved her, seemed to pop into existence in the middle of the room.

He looked at both of them and then focused on Michelle, tilting his head.

"Are you alright?"

Startled, she actually answered him. "Oh, fine. Except someone just tried to kill us because my husband and my unborn child could both become flesh eating monsters."

Jack flinched.

"Actually, I calculate that there is a 1 in 6 chance that the gene would never activate in your child, although if that happened they could still pass it on to their children." Cas told her.

"Wait."

Turning, they noticed the Winchesters standing in the entrance to the room. "You mean her kid might never turn?" Dean asked.

"Yes. The rougarou gene is strong, but the contribution from the mother should not be ignored. It is entirely possible it could cause the gene to skip a generation. Even if it doesn't, it can be controlled by diet."

"Yeah, a really strict diet." Dean glanced at Jack. "No offence, but that kind of hunger is hard to fight."

Jack shook his head. "Not if you've got something worth fighting it for." He looked at his wife, his expression pained and uncertain.

She crossed the room and hugged him before she'd even consciously thought about it. Both of them shuddered as they wrapped their arms around each other.

"So, what are we going to about Travis? 'Cause we're not killing him and that's the only thing I can come up with that would stop him."

Sam appeared to think about it, but it was Cas who answered.

"Whatever they do, they should move to another town. Possibly even another state."

Dean gave him a narrow eyed look and Cas sighed.

"While I hope future events won't occur, some very bad things happened in Carthage the first time around. Since they will have to move anyway, further would be better."

Dean had a feeling that Cas was somehow underplaying what had happened. "Should we be terrified?"

The angel nodded. "Yes, you should."

xxxx

In the end, Cas ended up helping a lot. Partly because any delay in trading his current position with Uriel was preferable. Mostly though, he just liked helping Dean and Sam. More and more he realized that he'd rather do jobs with them than continue dealing with Heaven.

Sadly, he didn't see that happening anytime soon.

xxxx

Travis couldn't find them anywhere. Not in the state, hell not even in the country and that didn't make any sense. Sure, he knew that Jack was an orphan, but his wife had family. He hadn't bothered to look them up at the time but he knew they existed. Now, he couldn't even find proof that either of them had ever been born, much less to who.

All he could do was wait until Jack started killing. Not how he wanted this to go down, but there didn't seem to be anything else he could do.

xxxx

New city, new job, new life. It was disturbing that there were people out there that could make something like that happen before they'd woken up the next morning, but Jack decided he wasn't going to dwell on it. He was just going to do the best he could to live it.

x

Author's note: I had always intended Jack and Michelle to be on my, 'you can't save everyone list'. When I re-watched the episode and realized that it took place in Carthage my brain went off in the opposite direction. Mostly because of the Death raising thing, but partially because I have cousins that live in that area and any time Carthage came up I ended up giggling through parts of the episodes. And no, I don't hate my cousins. It was just funny to me that of all the places for extreme weirdness to happen in the series, it was there.


	37. Chapter 37

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

Author's note: trying this again, hope it works.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 37

The introductions went about as well as they did the first time.

Okay, maybe a little worse.

"Dean and Sam Winchester, this is Uriel."

Uriel frowned and gave Castiel a chiding look.

"My apologies, brother." Cas said with a slight bow. "This is the archangel Uriel."

Dean looked like he wanted to say something smart mouthed already. He was holding it in, but Castiel knew it was only because he'd asked him to. The angel knew that Dean would try, but he also knew that not speaking his mind would be hard for the hunter.

"So, Cas…tiel tells us that you're going to have our back."

Uriel snorted. "I am to watch over you…" As he answered Dean, he gave Sam a look, as if he'd smelled something unpleasant. "Not come to your beck and call."

"Well, this should be an absolutely fantastic working relationship." Dean replied with a roll of his eyes. "So, we'll get back to work and you can go ahead and do that watching thing." He turned to Castiel. "Cas, don't be a stranger. Please."

Cas' lips twitched minimally and he nodded before disappearing, leaving the Winchester's with Uriel.

The archangel himself disappeared with a snort and Dean patted down his pockets, before giving his brother a look.

Sam sighed. "I'll start making new hex bags."

Dean nodded. The faster they could shake the douche, the happier he'd be.

xxxxxxxx

Castiel appeared in the mobile home that was serving as Chuck's new house. Unlike most mobile homes, this one appeared to be on a titled lot, rather than being part of a trailer park. It sat on a good chunk of land, which meant his neighbours were a safe distance from his home. Perhaps the damage that must have occurred to the houses next to Chucks when it was destroyed had prompted the choice?

Even though he had heard disparaging remarks about this type of house, this one appeared to be in better shape than Chuck's previous home had been. It was also cleaner, but that was probably only because the writer hadn't had much time or belongings to clutter the place with.

With little else to do but wait and watch, Castiel perched behind the prophet's shoulder and read along as Chuck transferred his latest visions to his computer screen. There was an almost sinking feeling in his gut as he realized it was the story about saving a man from becoming a rugarou. In other words, it was what had recently happened. Over the next couple of days, he watch Chuck write out the entire story, or at least the interesting parts. It was obvious that he didn't bother writing some of the things that happened, as a reader would simply not have been interested in bathroom breaks and the like.

When he finished, the prophet did something rather unusual. He printed out the story, placed it into a file and loaded the computer file onto a new thumb drive. Then he deleted all files of that story and burned his post-it notes in a fire pit out in his back yard.

The next morning he went to his bank and deposited the file and the thumb drive into a safety deposit box, or at least, that is what Castiel believed he'd done. He wasn't able to enter as the vault, as it was heavily warded. At first, he was afraid that demons were running the bank, but everyone there was obviously human and he discovered blocks set against demons as well.

The bank was old and a discrete call to Bobby supplied him with the information that the original owner/builder had been something of an occultist. When he'd built the place, he'd put protections in with the foundations. Cas rather suspected that Singer had a few things stored there. That Chuck had actually managed to choose such a safe place to hide away his second set of visions had Cas suspecting that some form of divine intervention had been involved.

He had to wonder if Uriel had ever noticed. And if he had, why hadn't he mentioned anything about it?

xxxxxxxx

Sam made three new hex bags. One for him, one for Dean and of course, one for the car. He finished tying them, effectively activating them about two thirds of the way into the drive to their next job. It might not work, but he'd noticed from Cas that angels considered vehicles to be a slow and tedious manner in which to travel. If Uriel could be bored into inattentiveness, then now would be the most likely time.

"Well?" Dean asked from behind the wheel.

Sam glanced into the back seat. "Well, no pissed off angel babysitter in the backseat and the hex bags are still here."

Dean gave a quick glance around himself and then shrugged. "No way to know, I guess." From the corner of his eye, he watched his brother put one of the hex bags in the glove compartment and pick up the file he'd left balanced on the dashboard.

He frowned slightly when Sam made a poopy face at it.

"Come on man, jobs don't get much sweeter than this one."

Now Sam was wearing his stinky face. "No, I agree. It's a hell of a case."

"Little more gusto there Sam."

He snapped the file closed. "It's just… We've got Meg out there, trying to find a way to get you or some other poor sap that could qualify as a righteous man into Hell. We've got other demons, settling into place to prepare breaking seals as soon as that happens and apparently both sides are trying to find out what and where the final seal will be once it finishes reforming."

"Yeah, finishes is the optimum word there. According to Brady it's stalled up at the moment."

"Doesn't mean it will stay that way." Sam looked pissed for a moment and then shook it off. "All I'm saying is, with all that going on, why are we taking on regular jobs on top of that?"

Dean nodded. "I understand, but I think we need this. A good old-fashioned monster hunt. It's about time the Winchesters took on a straight forward, black and white case. Besides, I don't relish the idea of taking on any of that other stuff without backup I can trust." He gave his brother a glance. "And I wouldn't trust our babysitter to hold my coat, much less save our lives."

Sam huffed out a sigh and picked up the hex bag he'd left in his lap. "Can't argue with that."

xxxxxxxx

Cas stood behind Chuck, reading over his shoulder. Apparently the boys were somewhere with copious amounts of beer and large pretzels. At the moment, he couldn't quite tell what they were hunting or how close Chuck's visions were to what was really happening.

Suddenly the writer's flying fingers stopped. Chuck looked around, screwed his face up like a man about to step out into an abyss and spoke.

"Castiel, I know you're here. I know what I am and I'd really like it if you would show yourself and talk to me."

Just how it was that things could keep changing as much as they did, and what would the backlash end up being? Not having an answer, Cas did as the prophet asked and appeared in front of him.

"Shit. " The author looked him over, his eyes so wide they gave the impression of taking up half of Chuck's face. "You're really real."

Castiel could feel the wince, right between his eyebrows. "You said you knew I was here."

"Yeah, that's what I said. I didn't really expect to be right about it. I mean, come on, me? A prophet? Protected by angels? "

From the expression on his face and the waving of his hands, Castiel realized that the author had run out of words.

"But, you foresaw what is now happening."

"Yeah, yeah I did." Chuck took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Just didn't completely believe it." The prophet suddenly pinned him with a look and Castiel felt hard pressed to not step back from him.

"I know what happened to my house and… and the archangel that was assigned to watch over me."

Castiel found himself reaching out to the desk to steady himself. "You have not written it though." There was no way that could have been hidden from Heaven if he had.

"No. Some things simply shouldn't end up on paper. And uh… I've only been writing the stuff that's really happening now when the new archangel… Uriel?"

Cas nodded.

"I write that stuff when he's not paying attention." Chuck gave a self-deprecating shrug. "Which is most of the time. I'm pretty sure I bore him senseless." He winced to himself. "Probably something of a feat when it comes to angels."

Castiel's lips twitched slightly. "I am surprised he feels that way, as I have always admired your work."

Chuck pointed a trembling finger at him. "See, I knew you were going to say that."

Cas tilted his head slightly. "It makes it no less true."

The prophet laughed, but there was little humour in it. "So, what now? I mean, I know that I could seriously screw up what you're trying to do… so."

At the angel's questioning look, Chuck smiled slightly and shrugged. "Didn't see this far."

"Ah." Cas thought for a moment and realized that he had no intentions of hurting a prophet of the Lord, no matter how dangerous his writings might be for him. "You've been placing some of your work in a protected vault."

The author nodded. "I just felt…better with it somewhere else, even if it was a totally Holmes/Watson thing to do."

Cas frowned at the reference and Chuck quickly explained that Watson had been the biographer of a detective named Holmes and had stored some of the more dangerous or unbelievable stories that he'd written about his friend's cases in a bank vault until such time that the world was ready for them.

"Ah. Yes, that is similar. I understand why you would do it of course, but how did you come to choose that bank?"

"I've got some really serious fans. When I blogged about needing a safe place to keep my work, they sent me a few suggestions. That place just 'felt' right when I went to check it out. I've been storing true versions out there since the house blew up.

Immediately, Cas thought to read the other version for himself. It was very likely that there was important information in Chuck's writing. However, removing them from where they were being stored could alert the Host to the second histories existence.

He couldn't risk it; he'd have to leave them there. But, perhaps he could send in someone else to the bank to read the there. Bobby would probably be willing to do it, once he'd finished with Niveus' files.

"Uh, if you want, I could stop writing the second set. I mean, now that I know for sure that they're happening, I could just…"

Cas shook his head. "No, there should be a record of what really happened. Of the truth. Just… continue being as cautious as you already have been."

Chuck nodded. "Sure. Oh, uh, just FYI. They've gone and lost Uriel. The Winchesters I mean. Once he gives up trying to find them, he'll probably be by to rant to you about it."

Cas sighed. "Thank you, for the warning."

xxxxxxxx

Almost an entire day went by before Uriel gave up trying to find them on his own.

"Castiel."

"Brother." Cas greeted him, but continued to read what Chuck was writing. The prophet believed that what he was seeing was current. So right now, the boys were questioning a witness to a possible werewolf attack.

An odd one.

"Castiel."

Cas turned his attention to Uriel. "Apologies, Uriel. How may I help you?"

"Your pet monkeys have gone and remade the hex bags."

Castiel frowned slightly, uncertain why the other angel was surprised by that. "Yes, they do that. Every demon on the planet would be able to track them if they didn't have them. The fact that they also block most angels is just an unexpected side effect."

"Surely they could use something else?"

Cas shrugged. "I do not believe there is anything else that would be as effective. At any rate, they are in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, at Oktoberfest." He tilted his head towards the writing prophet.

Uriel snorted. "I'm surprised you can stand to read that. More than a page or two and I swear I can feel my vessel's brain start to melt." He looked around the room. "Thankfully, all I really have to do is keep him safe. Someone else reviews the visions."

If Cas had been inclined towards emotional displays, he would have buried his face in his hands at that point. Somebody else knew exactly what was going on.

So, why hadn't they done anything about it?"

"Do you know who reviews them?" At Uriel's questioning look, he added. "In case I ever have to discuss the prophet's work with them."

Uriel laughed. "That's unlikely, as the gardener is the one keeping track of them."

"Joshua?" Cas asked.

Uriel nodded. "Yes."

"He mostly only talks with God."

Uriel smirked. "So they say. I suppose that is why they have him watching over the Word." With another nod, he disappeared.

Cas faded back into Chuck's visual range.

The author saved what he'd been working on and turned to the angel. "So, is this Joshua going to be a problem?"

Cas blinked. "You 'saw' that?"

Chuck gave him a hesitant smile and nodded.

"I am uncertain, although I do not believe so." Cas replied to the prophet's question. "He does talk with my Father, this much I know. Because of that, he usually plays things… close to his chest?"

Chuck nodded, letting Cas know that he'd used the idiom correctly.

"He doesn't tend to share information unless asked. If no one has, then he's probably of the opinion that if the other angels want to know what's going on, then they can read the Word as it is written. That they are not doing so is… their own problem."

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Ellen had a concerned expression on her face as a car pulled up outside Bobby's house.

"Bobby. We've got company."

The hunter joined her at the window and looked out. "Ah, she came. When I talked with her earlier I wasn't sure she was going too."

Rufus joined them. "Who's here?"

Bobby started towards the front door, telling them as he went.

"I thought we could use some assistance with that stuff from Niveus, so I called in someone I knew could help." He opened the door before the woman on the other side could knock. She looked at him with an amused expression on her face.

"Bobby."

He nodded at her. "Glad you could make it, Deanna."

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Bobby had already sorted about half of the files into general subjects, using a quick check of the tabs or the first page of it to get an idea of where it would go. Wasn't perfect, but breaking the mess down made getting through it seem less impossible.

Once they'd dug into the chaos of paper and filing cabinets, they'd discovered a few computer towers in amongst the hard copy. They turned Ellen loose on them, as she'd picked up a few pointers from Ash over the years.

Deana picked a subject and started to read, while Bobby and Rufus continued to sort, occasionally adding files to what she was working on. Ellen was already set up on a computer across from her.

"So, you're Dean and Sam's Grandmother?"

Deana nodded and set aside a file that appeared to be an expense account for one of Niveus' VPs. The subject for this pile was drug testing and the file didn't seem to have anything to do with that. At least, if there were drugs involved they weren't the kind that Niveus could admit to selling.

"I think I remember John talking about you once, after a hunt. He'd had a little more to drink than was usual, even for him. Started talking about how you were trying to take his boys from him."

Deanna nodded and put a file on the test results for an acne cream on the not important pile and picked up the next one. "He wasn't wrong." She looked up at Ellen, meeting her eyes for a moment before going back to the file. "When Sam was about eleven, John disappeared long enough that the people running the motel actually called the cops. They in turn called me and I went and picked the boys up. John didn't show up for another two weeks. I'd started the paperwork after the first week. When he finally surfaced, he figured out what I was up to and disappeared with the boys. Took me almost three months to track them down after that." She shook her head, a nostalgic little smile on her lips. "When I found them, Sam had run away and Dean was frantically trying to find him before John got back."

Ellen winced. "Just how pissed was their Daddy?"

Deanna smile widened. "Never had to find out. I helped Dean track Sam down to Flagstaff and we dragged him home before John came back from his latest hunt. It was the reason Dean never let his dad know that I'd found them." She shook her head at the thought. "He didn't know about the custody thing, just that John was avoiding me." She sighed, "I gave up on trying for custody after that. I wouldn't have had a problem with Sam, but after spending a few days with Dean I was knew that if I'd tried that there was a good chance that he'd have disappeared with his brother himself. So instead, I made sure that the boys had a way to get in touch with me and left it at that. Dean didn't really, but Sam did once he got over the lecture I gave him for running away."

Ellen snorted. "That would have been something to see."

"Dean was actually a bigger wreck after the talking than Sam was. I had to send him out of the house because even though he was mad at Sam, he kept trying to protect him from me."

Ellen shook her head and sighed. "Even then."

Deanna sighed. "Even before then."

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After a long day of sorting and reading Bobby was headachy, tired and in serious need of a drink or a nap or both. He felt that desire double when he walked into his house and saw who was making himself comfortable on his couch.

"Loki?"

"Hey Singer. Just wanted to let you know that I've made off with all the whiskey you had in the house."

Bobby rubbed his forehead. So much for that drink.

"Why have you taken the whiskey?"

"Need it for a 'friend' of mine." The trickster sat up. "Don't worry though; I've left you a case of something on your desk to compensate for the loss. So, drink up." A snap of his fingers and he was gone.

Frowning, Bobby walked over to his desk and found a wooden crate sitting on it. Pulling a small pry bar out of one of his desk drawers, he carefully opened the box. The inside was segmented to hold twelve bottles. Pulling one out, he had to whistle. He'd never heard of the brand, but thirty year old anything had to be good. He looked up as his front door opened and Rufus came in.

"He, Rufus."

"Yeah?"

"Ever hear of Craig scotch?" He turned the bottle so the other man could see it.

"Huh."

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Gabriel smiled. Maybe he couldn't get to Crowley physically, but even from outside his gates he could hear the demon's horrified wail of anguish as he opened his latest crate of scotch.

Now, what should he try next?

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Dean leaned back in the beach chair and looked out at the ocean. It had been a long couple of weeks and this felt…

"Hello Dean."

…Heavenly. It even came with its own angel.

"Hi Cas." Dean reached down and pulled a Corona out of the ice-filled bucket beside him.

"Want one?" He held the beer out to him, but Cas just smiled slightly and shook his head before looking out at the waves.

Dean popped the cap on the bottle and took a sip. "Ah, it doesn't get much more perfect than this."

"No, it doesn't." Cas said, agreeing.

Dean took another long swallow of his drink and set it down beside him.

"I'm dreaming, aren't I?"

Castiel's expression became slightly pained. "Yes, I'm afraid so."

"But you're really here?"

Cas nodded.

Dean stretched and put his hands behind his head as a makeshift pillow. "Take what I can get."

For a few minutes, they enjoyed the sun and the sound of the waves.

"Have you recovered from your recent illness?" Cas asked suddenly.

Dean grimaced. Ghost sickness was on his list of things not to do again, ever.

"I am sorry I could not come to you when you asked for help." The angel's expression was once more a pained one.

"It's cool. Besides, it felt like you did… something."

"Yes. I sent you what strength I could through the link. Did it help?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah, yeah it did. It let me slap the hallucinations back until Sam and Bobby dealt with the ghost."

"Good."

Dean sat up in the lounge chair, planting both his feet in the sand on each side of it.

"So, since you're visiting this way, I can only guess that you're still stuck babysitting the prophet."

"Yes." Cas looked for a moment like a man searching for a way to phrase something.

"There are some things about that that should be discussed." He looked around. "But they can wait and this is probably not the best place for it anyway."

Dean snorted. "Still not sure what could be more private than my head."

Wisely, Cas decided not to answer that.

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Bela dropped a file onto the middle of Crowley's desk. Frowning at her, he picked it up and started to page through it.

"Should I assume there's a reason you didn't just put this in my in-box?"

She nodded. "It's a seal, one that's about to be broken."

He gave her a glance and then looked at the file a little closer. "Okay, so? This thing has a small window of opportunity. If they don't do it soon they'll have to wait another six centuries for their next chance. The first seal is still intact. With it in place, it doesn't matter if this one seal gets broken. It won't count, even if the first seal was broken right after it. You would still have to break another sixty-five of them to open the box."

"In theory, yes."

Crowley narrowed his eyes at her. "In theory?"

Bela handed over another file. "This is a seal that would actually be useful for Meg's group to break. Even if it won't help open the cage, it would kill off a lot of hunters."

"Raising of the witnesses." Crowley mused, looking over the new file. "You're right, it would be useful. Your point?"

"Not only are Meg and her people going out of their way to avoid breaking seals, they're intervening to stop others from breaking them. For the last few weeks she's been torturing her way through her minions, trying to figure out what happened with Niveus and then suddenly this is more important. From what I've learned, she plans to move against the witches that are threatening the seal I first showed you. There are six hundred of the things. It shouldn't matter if one or two of them are lost, but…"

"But they're acting as if losing any of them matters." He thought that over for a moment. "The question is; would they be completely bollixed if that happened, or are they just being cautious?"

Bela shrugged. "Can't tell. I can keep researching it if you want me too."

He nodded. "Do" He picked up the first file again, a slight frown creasing his forehead as he considered his options.


	38. Chapter 38

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 38

Cas frowned as he stared at the opening of Chuck's latest manuscript. "Is this the only version you're seeing?"

The author nodded. "Yeah. I meant to say something about that during the last story. Bits from this timeline crept into the narrative and I never saw a second version. I think where it can; the realities are starting to blend."

"Which bits?"

"During my manuscript for Yellow Fever, when Dean was suffering from hallucinations, he called out for help from his patron god, Kaseva. He felt stronger after he did."

Cas nodded. "Yes, I helped as much as I could. Dean told me it worked."

"Mmm. Thing is, I didn't see a version where he didn't call to Kaseva for help. There was only one storyline this time and it's the current one."

"The change was a minor one."

Chuck nodded and then pointed at the computer screen. "Yeah, but if this is anything to go by, it's starting to affect the bigger ones."

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Luke Wallace watched his wife and son head up the stairs before turning to the cupboard where she'd stored the Halloween candy. Opening it, he chose the bigger container of sweets and popped the lid. Taking out a piece, he checked behind him to make sure his wife hadn't come back down, before unwrapping it and preparing to pop it into his mouth.

"I really wouldn't do that if I were you."

Wallace was surprised enough that he dropped the candy as he turned and backed away from the voice at his side.

"What?"

"The candy. I'm sure it won't be good for your health."

Luke looked over the man in front of him. About 5' 8" or so and…well, dapper was the first thought that came to mind. That didn't explain why Luke Wallace felt his skin crawling just looking at him.

"Who the hell are you?"

The man gave him a smile that appeared to pain him. "Just think of me as the Halloween Candy Kiss Fairy."

"Uh."

"It's my job to make sure no Halloween treat is eaten before its time."

Luke gave his head a short, sharp, shake. "You're kidding?"

The guy stared at him for a moment. "Of course I am."

Then he flicked his fingers.

When Luke came to a few seconds later, the man was pulling something out from behind the refrigerator. He looked over the little tied bag he held in his hand and snorted.

"Witches." He shook his head. "No matter how powerful, you'd be hard pressed to find one that could come up with anything new."

A few steps across the room and he scooped up the piece of candy Luke had dropped.

"In future, when your wife tells you not to eat something, you might want to pay attention."

Luke blinked and the man was gone.

"Luke, what's taking you so long?" His wife walked into the kitchen, holding the baby. Not sure what to say, he groaned and cradled his head in his hands, flinching when he found the growing lump on his head from where it had impacted with the kitchen cabinets.

Concerned, his wife put the baby into the high chair and came over to help him up.

"Luke?"

"I think I slipped."

"You think?"

He nodded and then wished he hadn't as pain sparked across the surface of his skull.

"Hit my head…" Yes, that was it, he'd hit his head, everything else… never happened.

And he maintained that, even after the trip to the hospital.

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Uriel had moved on past simply disliking his new assignment and was now travelling a road that felt a lot like hate. Every time he turned around, the Winchesters managed to disappear on him. It didn't seem to matter how many times he got rid of those hex bags, there was always another set ready to go in a matter of hours.

He'd had to go to Castiel twice now to find out where they were, as the Thursday angel was still the only one that could find them when they were using the bags. After the second time Castiel had suggested that Uriel buy a cell phone and call the next time he lost them.

And he'd actually considered it.

He needed off this detail.

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Castiel looked over from where he stood behind the prophet as two angels appeared in the room.

"Uriel, Rachel."

Uriel had noticed that Castiel seemed to be increasingly uncomfortable in the blonde angel's presence. At first he'd thought that he'd finally caught a clue and was coming to understand the regard she held for him. However, if that were the case, then surely he would have acted on it in one way or the other by now. Instead, he just continued to be uneasy and even pained when in her presence.

He could tell that Rachel had noticed, but apparently hadn't worked up the courage to confront him about it yet.

"Castiel, we have new orders. Rachel will cover your position here while they are being fulfilled."

The trench coat wearing angel raised an eyebrow at that, but said nothing against it.

"Where are we to go?"

"I will tell you, but first, we must find the Winchesters…"

"You've lost them again?"

Uriel gritted his vessel's teeth. "… and have them meet us there."

"Give me the location. I will see to it."

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One moment they're driving down the road, headed towards a ghost hunt. The next, they're two states over and parked on a pleasant residential street in a nice little town.

"Apologies."

The brothers jumped slightly and both of them turned to look in the back seat.

"Damn it Cas. Ask before you go moving us."

"It was an emergency."

Dean rubbed at the spot of pain that took sudden root between his eyes. "When isn't it?"

"Two witches are attempting to break one of the seals and raise the demon Samhain, who in turn would raise every evil thing in creation and unleash it on the world."

Dean stopped in mid rub and Sam's mouth dropped open.

"The first blood sacrifice failed, but only because a demon stepped in and stopped it."

Dean's hand dropped away from his face and he gave his friend his best 'you've got to be kidding me' look.

Sam decided to use actual words. "A demon?"

"Crowley."

"Why?" Sam looked at his brother, who shrugged. "Why would he step in to stop it?"

Cas' brow furrowed up as he thought the question over. "I don't know. I only know about it because I was reading over Chuck's shoulder." He pointed at the closest house to them. "Go there. Stop what is about to happen."

Before they could draw breath to ask, he was gone.

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The fastest way to stop something bad from happening at a party, evacuate it. A group of costumed teenagers made themselves scarce as two DEA agents ordered them out of the house and began a search for a reported drug stash. A blonde and a brunette, dressed respectively as a cheerleader and a naughty nurse caught Dean's attention, for obvious reasons, but also because they didn't leave as quickly as they could have. He collected their names, told them they'd be in touch and showed them out of the house.

Justin watched them go, wishing he could leave with them, but no such luck.

"Guys, honest, there's nothing here. There are no drugs. We didn't even have any booze."

The taller of the two agents pulled a tied brown bag out of the couch cushions and held it up. "Found it."

"It's not mine." Crap. No, no, no. He wasn't going down for someone else's stash.

The shorter agent, who still wasn't very short, gave him a smirk. "You better hope it isn't. Because you won't like what happens if it is."

Justin was envisioning handcuffs and the backseats of police cars while the agents ran a quick search of the rest of the house. He was embarrassed when they found his porn stash and horrified at the open box of condoms they found in his parents room. He was trying to wrap him mind around the fact that his parents were still having sex when the two agents told him to keep his nose clean and left, without arresting him.

He'd never know that it was his shock over the condoms that convinced the two of them that he wasn't a witch. Only a normal teenager would be surprised to find that their parents hadn't stopped doing it once they'd had him.

xxxxxxxx

Technically the hex bag was still a bomb waiting to go off. Sam had put enough of the things together in the last while that de-powering this one wasn't exactly easy, but it was doable. Once it was safe, he opened it and started going over the contents.

xxxxxxxx

Dean had gone out while Sam was working on the bag. He didn't like the things and he always felt uneasy when Sam worked on them, even when they were the ones Cas taught him to make. He'd always had this niggling feeling that if they hadn't been hunters that Sam would have had the potential to made one scary witch, so watching him work with the things was… uncomfortable.

And yes, he knew it was hypocritical of him, when he was more than capable of putting a spell or ritual together when he had too. It was just that for him it was a tool, while Sam seemed to be fascinated by the entire process.

Dean used the time to pick up a few supplies and came back to the motel room, snacking on some Halloween candy. Sam looked up from the book he was consulting and shook his head.

Dean smirked at him, stuffed another candy into his mouth and joined him on the arm of the couch.

"Anything interesting?"

Sam nodded. "Cas was right, it's a witch-hunt. Only this... is not your typical hex bag."

"No?" That was something coming from someone who routinely put together ones that an angel had taught him to make.

Sam picked up a skeletal swirl of a dried plant. "Goldthread. An herb that's been extinct for 200 years." He traded it for an old coin. "And this is Celtic and I don't mean some New-Age knockoff. It looks like the real deal, like 600-years-old real."

Dean picked up the third item in the bag and gave it a sniff.

"And that is the charred metacarpal bone of a newborn baby."

Dean put it down very quickly. "Oh, gross."

"Relax, man." Sam picked it up. "It's at least a hundred years old."

And there was that fascination again.

"Oh, right, like that makes it better. Witches man, so freaking skeevy."

Dean blinked and right then realized that if there was a reason that Sam's interest would never go any further than it already had, then he'd just voiced it. His brother might always do what needed to be done, might even find it intellectually stimulating, but he'd never get the same enjoyment out of it that the witch who'd set this trap would have. Maybe at one time Dean would have feared that for his brother. Hell, there were times he feared it for himself, but ever since Sam had dealt with Brady, it felt as if some of that darkness had been burned out of them, in payment of the deed.

Unaware of the tangent Dean's thought processes had taken, Sam nodded in agreement with his brother opinion of witches. "Yeah. Well, it takes a pretty powerful one to put a bag like this together. Ruby might have been able to pull it off…

Dean blinked, surprised. It had been awhile since his brother had mentioned the witch turned demon. Sam however, didn't miss a beat.

"…but this is more juice than we've ever had to deal with ourselves, that's for sure."

"Don't sell yourselves short boys. Given the things you deal with even a witch this powerful should be a walk in the park."

The speed with which the two of them could pull weapons seemingly out of nowhere would have been impressive to most. The 'man' standing in the middle of their motel room merely gave them a snort and looked around.

"By the way, you wouldn't happen to know who lifted twelve bottles of Craig whiskey off of me and replaced it with Old Rotgut, would you?"

"Crowley?"

"Yes darlings, that is my name. Now answer the damn question."

Strangely, the two hunters relaxed… slightly.

"Can't say for sure, though Bobby mentioned something about Loki giving him a really nice present."

Crowley said something that neither of them understood, but it hurt their ears and the varnish on the table next to the demon started to bubble up and smoke. The current 'King of the Crossroads' gave it an annoyed look and then put it out with a snap of his fingers.

"Should have known." He gave the two hunters a look. "You going to point those at me all day?"

Grimacing, Sam and Dean lowered their guns. They didn't put them away.

Sam glanced at the open hex bag and then back to Crowley. "How'd you find us?"

"Despite the efforts of pagan gods and angels, I can track you wherever I want."

Dean just backed out of the way and let Sam bitch face the truth out of the demon.

Crowley's shoulders slumped in defeat. "Fine. Taking a wild guess that you two boy scouts would end up here, I hit every motel in town looking for a rental for two queens with idiotic names."

"Hey."

Crowley smirked at Dean before his face fell into a frown. "I tried tracing you by your car, but I never could find the Impala I was looking for."

Both hunters made a choking noise that had Crowley narrowing his eyes at them. He didn't bother to ask. He was fairly certain that he knew the reason for that little problem.

Dean got over his amusement first. "Question, why are you here? It can't have just been so you could bitch about the scotch."

"I'm sautéing two birds with one frying pan."

"And now I'm worried that we're the birds."

It was Crowley's turn to laugh. "Ah, if only that were so. No, Meg's paranoid about messing with the seals until after the last one reforms. So I'm keeping them intact, while keeping the bitch happy with me, at least until a couple of hunters I know get off their arses and do something about her." The demon raised his voice for the last part of the sentence before continuing in a quieter vein. "Surely Brady gave you something you could use?"

"We're still trying to put that together with the stuff we got from Niveus." Sam told him somewhat defensively.

Crowley rolled his eyes. "Delaying sounds more like it. Don't wait too long, because she won't."

"Wait. Ah, crap." Sam looked disgusted as he found himself talking to thin air.

"You wanted him to stick around?" Dean asked him.

"He's got to know more than we do about what's going on. At the very least, it would have been good to know who the first target was. It might tell us who the next one would be."

"Maybe we just need to go at it from another angle." Dean suggested.

"How so?"

"Well, Cas did tell us who the witches are trying to raise…"

"Samhain." Two seconds later, Sam was immersed in one of his books. He barely even heard his brother when Dean told him he was going to go out and check with a couple of witnesses.

He was long gone before Sam remembered that no one had actually seen anything.

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Naughty nurse was more obviously jailbait without the costume. She was also freaked that one of the DEA agents from the party the night before had turned up on her doorstep.

"If you would be more comfortable with one of your parents here I can come back when they're home."

"Oh, hell no." Eyes wide and mortified, Jenny slapped a hand over her mouth.

Dean couldn't help but smile. "You'd rather they didn't know."

She nodded, vigorously.

"Then let's do this now. With any luck I'll be out of your hair in a few minutes."

"Okay." She invited him in and they sat down at the table in the dining room.

"Um, is Justin in any trouble?"

He gave her a long look. "You've got a thing for him, don't you? That's why you and cheerleader were hanging around after."

The kid actually blushed. "Maybe? So, is he, in trouble I mean?"

Dean shook his head. "Nah, but someone was trying to make some for him. They planted something at the party, but we're fairly certain it isn't his."

"Oh."

"Do you know anyone who might have it out for Justin? Or who might have a serious grudge against someone else at the party?"

She thought for a moment and then shook her head. "No, I mean, not so much that they'd try to have him arrested."

Dean's eyebrows rose slightly, because whoever it was, they'd been trying for something a lot worse than just legal problems.

"What about the girl who was with you?" He checked his notes. "Tracy Davis. Did she mention noticing anything odd?"

Jenny shook her head. "No." She paused for a moment, as if remembering something and then shook her head again.

"Jenny?" Dean dragged her name out as a long question.

Jenny shrugged. "It's nothing."

Dean could stare down angels and demons. One teenager was nothing.

"She seemed more disturbed about you guys showing up than I would have expected her to be."

"More disturbed than everyone else?"

"Well, no, but see, they were all worried that their parents would find out, and Tracy… She already lives on her own."


	39. Chapter 39

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Author's note: Third load attempt. Hopefully this one works.

Authour's note, February 17th, 2013: Minor changes to this chapter to fix an oops I made. Thanks SkyHighFan for letting me know.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 39

Dean gave his brother a call on the way back to the motel. By the time he arrived, Sam had already hacked into the local school records and had Tracy's address, along with a report that she had recently been suspended for attacking a teacher.

While his brother took a look at the information on Tracy, Sam opened a book and laid out a picture of a Demon and a lot of dead bodies. "If she is one of our witches, then she and her partner have a lot of work to do in a very short time. The ritual to raise Samhain can only be performed every 600 years."

"And let me guess, the latest only time would be now."

Sam nodded. "It requires three blood sacrifices. Two of which were already stopped. That means they will have to plant two more hex bags before tomorrow…"

"Or get three people together in one place and do it then." Dean said.

"Mmm. You're sure that naughty nurse isn't one of the witches?"

"Ninety percent sure." Dean shrugged at Sam's look. "She blushed when I mentioned that Justin kid. I doubt a centuries old hag would have a crush on a teenage boy."

Sam's entire face wrinkled up. "Disturbing thought."

"Isn't it though."

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"I was only trying to rap with her about her work. It had gotten inappropriate and disturbing."

Don Harding was the type of teacher that tried to be pals with their students. It wasn't a bad thing, but Dean had to wonder at someone who still used the term rap when he wasn't talking about music. The guy sounded as if he'd stepped out of an after school special from the seventies.

"More disturbing than those guys?" Dean didn't bother to hide his disbelief as he gestured towards the masks they'd seen when they'd first walked into the art classroom.

Don almost laughed, but sobered quickly.

"She would cover page after page with these bizarre, cryptic symbols." His voice became even more serious. "And then there where the drawings. Detailed images of killings. Gory, primitive. She would depict herself in the middle of them, participating."

Well, Dean had to admit, that was disturbing.

Sam asked him about the symbols, showing Don the coin they'd gotten from the hex bag.

"Yeah, yeah. I think that might have been one of them."

They thanked him for his time.

On the way out of the classroom, Dean sent an amused glance towards a kid standing near the art room's kilns. It took him a moment to recognize Justin without the Halloween costume. The teen was attempting to appear nochalant while hiding a giant clay hookah behind his back. He wasn't very good at playing it cool, nearly having a heart attack when Dean paused to smile at him.

"I think you're going to need a bigger kiln." Justin gulped and he heard Sam groan slightly at the Jaws misquote. Dean's smile turned into a smirk.

He chuckled all the way back to the car.

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Tracy's apartment was a bust. Not only wasn't she there, from what they could tell after they let themselves in she had no intention of returning any time soon. As far as Sam was concerned, the only high point of the day was watching Dean have to give up some of his candy stash to a kid dressed as an astronaut.

And it only went downhill after he opened the door to their room.

"Cas." Sam felt Dean perk up behind him.

"And Uriel." The younger Winchester said with a slump to his voice as he noticed the other angel standing by the windows. Their current babysitter gave them a look before turning his gaze back to the window and the parking lot outside.

"Sam. Dean." Castiel nodded at both of them. "Have you found the witch yet?"

"No, but we know who it is." Dean told him.

Sam opened his mouth to say something about them not knowing who the second witch was yet, and ended up making a squeaking noise as Dean poked him in the butt. His mouth snapped shut as he realized that his brother had been quicker on the uptake than he had been. If Cas was asking about one witch, then that was all Uriel knew about.

That same angel snorted at them. "The witch knows who you are too."

The brother's gave Uriel a narrowed eyed glance before turning back to Castiel with questioning looks.

Cas walked over to the nightstand and picked up a hex bag. "This was inside the wall of your room. If we hadn't found it…"

"We'd probably have suffered a Halloween related death." Dean finished for him. Beside him, Sam made a disturbed noise.

"What?"

"We wouldn't have just been dead Dean. We might very well have been the replacement sacrifices for the two that have already been stopped."

"Awesome." As usual, Dean managed to load that word with an overflowing amount of sarcasm. He gave Cas a hopeful look. "Don't suppose you know where she is?"

The angel shook his head. "This witch is very powerful. She's cloaked even to our methods."

"Naturally."

Uriel turned and joined the conversation fully. "There is a simple solution to all of this."

Given how Cas' back stiffened, Dean suspected it wasn't a good one.

"The two of you leave town and we destroy it."

Dean looked like he'd just bitten into a lemon. "Smite the town. That's your big plan?"

"We are running out of time."

"So what." Dean shrugged. I mean… the demon and all the things he'll raise. That sounds like our kind of problem, not Heavens."

Castiel sighed. "The raising of Samhain is one of the 66 seals. There is some concern over what may happen if it breaks while the last seal is reforming."

"What? Is it going to pop the lock?"

"We don't know."

Dean ran a hand through his hair in an aggravated motion. "I don't know is not a good enough reason to kill a thousand people for."

Cas gave him a slight nod. "I agree."

"Castiel." Uriel gave him a shocked look. One Dean had to smirk at.

"We can do this Cas. We will find the witch and stop the summoning."

The angel gave him another nod. "Move quickly."

xxxxxxxx

"So, we'll start with naughty nurse and that Justin kid. See if they know where Tracy might have gone to ground." Dean said once they'd gotten into the car.

"Mmm."

Dean turned slightly in his seat to see his brother looking over the contents of the hex bag that had had their names on it.

"That any different from the last one?"

"No." Sam's voice was very distracted.

"Okay, give. What's up?"

Sam held up the bone. "Do you know how much heat it would take to char a bone like this?"

Dean shrugged. "I don't know. Why don't you tell me Mr. Science."

"An ordinary fire or a kitchen stove wouldn't get hot enough. What you'd really need... is a kiln."

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Dean walked over to one of the art room's kilns, opened it and looked inside. While he did this, Sam went to the teacher's desk.

Not finding anything in the circular oven, Dean closed it and joined his brother.

"Okay, so Tracy used one of the kilns to char the bones. What's the big deal?"

Sam continued to search the desk as he answered him. "Dean, that hex bag turned up in our room not…" He punctuated the sentence with a raised finger. "…after we talked to Tracy."

"But after we talked to the teacher." Dean finished.

This was when Sam found a locked drawer. A couple of blows from a handy hammer later and they were looking down into a bowl of small bones and teeth.

"My God. Those are all from children."

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Castiel found Uriel sitting on a park bench, his expression mutinous.

"What was that about?"

Cas gave him a brief look before turning to watch as a group of trick-or-treating children dressed in costumes passed by.

"I agreed with him. I saw no reason not to let him know it. Besides, you know our true orders."

"Yes, but I thought you weren't any more happy about them than I am."

Cas shook his head. "The only problem I have with them is that we hamper the righteous man by not telling him we are under his orders. It is hard to assess a leader when they don't even know they are in charge."

"Please, this is bad enough. If he knew he'd probably have ordered me to flap my arms and cluck like a chicken."

There was only a slight flinch in Castiel's eyes at Uriel's statement. He couldn't argue with the other angel, because knowing Dean's sense of humour he was probably right.

The image it brought to mind was amusing though.

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The altar was ready. The final sacrifice stood with her hands tied above her, her mouth gagged, helpless, struggling and unable to cast even the most minor spell in her defence. Now all that was needed was for the two hunters to return to their motel room and the hex bag would do the rest, making them the first two sacrifices.

He would finish the spell once he felt their deaths.

Any time now.

He glanced at his watch and had to stop himself from impatiently tapping the sacrificial dagger against the top of the chalice. A few more minutes and he'd be forced to go grab the closest trick-or-treaters to act as the sacrifices, something he didn't want to do, as he didn't want to risk leaving his dear, dear sister alone. Even hanging from the ceiling, he didn't trust her to stay there like a good little victim.

He lasted another five minutes of fidgeting.

"Just hang tight. I'll be back with a couple of playmates in a few minutes."

"Yeah, I don't think so."

He knew he'd been busy annoying his sister, but he still should have noticed the hunters enter the house. That his wards hadn't picked them up was disturbing and as it turned out, deadly. A quick gesture and a couple of words were all he would have needed to send them flying, but they managed to get two bullets into him before he'd half completed the spell. He had enough time for his face to gain a shocked expression before he dropped to the ground, dead.

Dean gave the body a couple of light kicks to make sure that he was certifiably dead, while Sam walked over to the altar.

"Mmmppphhh."

Dean looked up at the hanging witch and smiled. "Sorry babe, but we're not that stupid."

"Mmmmphh!" Was the angry reply to that.

Dean gave her one more smirk and then went to help Sam dismantle the altar.

Crushing what they could, they bunched the remnants and the still whole items up in the alter cloth, intending to salt and burn it and its contents as soon as possible.

Sam took a quick glance back at the fuming witch. "So, what do we do about her?"

Dean grimaced. It was one thing to kill a witch when they were trying to kill you, another to kill one when it was helpless. Still, that didn't mean he was going to give her a free pass. He couldn't afford to.

"I guess I'll just have to gan…"

A choking noise had them turning to find Crowley cleaning blood off the blade of a knife, a sour look on his face.

"Morons."

With a blink, he was gone again.

"Jeez, what was his problem?" Dean asked.

Sam shrugged and went to make certain that Tracy was dead. "Uh, Dean."

"What?"

Sam pointed at her tied wrists, one of which was almost completely free of the ropes.

"Oh, I guess that was his problem."

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Dean was sitting on a bench in the park, enjoying the day, when Cas appeared on the bench beside his.

"So, how'd we do?"

Castiel smiled slightly. "Better than last time. Although that is not surprising, as you were working with less information and less help that time."

Dean nodded and looked around. "So, where's the dou… uh, I mean, where's Uriel?"

"He had an appointment with our superior. I believe he intends to ask to be relieved of his duties concerning you and your brother."

"Damn, I didn't think it would take this long to break him."

Cas rubbed a hand over his mouth and Dean grinned, knowing that the angel was trying to hide a smile of his own.

"Well, we'll be glad to have you back. Although…how long are you going to keep hanging with the di…with the other angels?"

Cas heaved out a breath that was almost a sigh. "Not much longer I suspect. I had hoped to discover what the last seal has become before I burn my bridges…" He shook his head. "But I may not have the luxury of that much time."

"Are they suspicious?"

"No more than usual." Cas glanced up, double-checking that their conversation was still hidden from his bosses. "According to the prophet, the realities are starting to blend. He's beginning to see only one path, and it's the current one."

Dean watched the children play for a moment as he turned that piece of information over in his mind. "That's what you wanted to tell me, back in dreamland."

Cas nodded.

"Nobody's noticed?"

"I believe that the one being that is actually paying attention isn't telling. However, someone will start putting it together, eventually. It would be better if I am already gone by the time that happens."

"Any safe way to do it?"

Castiel gave his friend a look.

"Yeah, guess that's a no."

"Unfortunately." Cas sighed. "Thankfully, unlike last time I will not be completely cut off from Heaven, as I will not technically fall. I will likely be denied direct access, so I have created ways into the system that should allow me to gather power and information without being noticed.

Dean choked. "You hacked Heaven?"

"Your friend Ash helped."

Dean sucked in a startled breath. "Ash?"

Cas nodded. "His soul moved onto Heaven after the roadhouse burned down. Unlike most souls who stay in their own heavens, Ash quickly learned to travel the pathways between them. Something only angels usually do."

"And he helped you find a back door into Heaven?"

"Essentially, yes."

Dean laughed. "Man, wait 'til I tell Sammy."

"Just make sure Uriel isn't there when you do."

Dean's answer to that was a snort and a nod. He frowned as a thought crossed his mind.

"Ash is a smart guy. Maybe he could help you figure out that last seal thing."

Castiel blinked. He hadn't thought of that.

"I will ask him about it the next time I see him."

"Good. He can help. Something like that should stick out anyways."

Cas tilted his head. "Yes. It would have to be rare, have great power, be tainted in some way and as the seal stopped forming something must be protecting it at the… moment."

Why did the memory of giving Anna a hex bag that blocked her connection to the angels come to mind just then?

Cas' eyes widened as the epiphany hit him, going from a vague feeling and a pinpoint of information to full blown understanding. Everything fell into place. Uriel giving Anna's grace to Zachariah. Zachariah lying about knowing what the last seal was. The forming of that seal stopping as soon as Anna was protected.

Dean flinched when Cas said something short, sharp and obviously nasty in Enochian. The word felt like sandpaper rubbed along his skin and he looked down at himself, almost expecting to find that he was bleeding.

"Cas?"

"I am an idiot."

"Well…"

The angel glared at him and Dean smirked back at him.

"Don't sweat it man. It doesn't matter how powerful and knowledgeable you are, when it comes to being stupid, we're all equal."

Castiel winced, that was one statement he knew all to well to be true.

He just wished he had a little less first hand knowledge of it.


	40. Chapter 40

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 40

That evening's homework didn't beckon so much as demand and Adam knew he couldn't put it off much longer. He'd already searched the net for any weirdness in the area and back home, checked in with his mom and called his brothers for a quick chat with Sam, as Dean was suffering from submarine sandwich induced food poisoning. His roommate Cooper wasn't even there to act as a distraction as he was studying at the library. Having run out of excuses, he dragged out his textbooks and notes, prepared to put in some solid studying.

"Pre-med, huh?"

Being pre-med, Adam knew that it wasn't actually possible for his heart to spontaneously lodge itself in his throat, but that's what it felt like. "Loki?" The name squeaked out around the lump in his oesophagus and Adam coughed suddenly as his body took matters into its own hands and tried to clear it for him. The pagan god standing next to him smirked, but otherwise waited quietly for him to stop choking.

"What are you doing here?" Adam asked, his voice still a little strangled.

Loki shrugged. "Oh you know. Even though I'm working on several projects I still get…"

'No.' Adam thought. 'Don't say it.'

"…Bored."

Crap.

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A few hours later, Cooper returned to his dorm room. Arms full of textbooks, he knocked, expecting Adam to be in, studying. Sighing when he didn't get an answer, Cooper put his stack of books on the floor, got his key out and opened the door. A quick look proved that the room was empty. He reached down and picked up his books, almost letting go of them when he straightened up to see Adam standing in the middle of the room, wearing a large sombrero and holding a half empty bottle of tequila.

"Ah, was it Mexican night at the student's bar?" The very large hat his roommate was wearing was easier to focus on than the fact that he appeared to have not been there a moment ago.

Adam took off the sombrero, dropped it onto his bed and sat down next to it. "Not exactly." He looked at the bottle of tequila for a moment before taking a swig of the golden liquid.

"Soooo…" Cooper started to ask as he walked the few steps to his bed and dropped his books onto the mattress.

"Look, just…don't…don't ask, okay? It'll be better for all of us."

Cooper winced slightly, all too familiar with being left out of things. "Sure man."

Adam sighed, put the bottle down on the nearest flat surface and tossed the giant hat off his bed so he could lie down.

"Wake me up when the room stops spinning, would you," he asked, passing out before his roommate could even answer him.

Cooper sighed and sat down next to his books.

"College, yay."

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Crowley had a minion open the next shipment of Scotch. He didn't know if Loki would repeat himself and go after his liquor again, but if he did, he couldn't assume the crate wouldn't blow up in some imaginative and painful manner.

The minion looked into the crate, frowned and then pulled out one of the bottles.

"Margarita mix?"

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Cas watched as Anna Milton waved to a couple of friends as they split up to head off to different classes. He'd been ignoring his duties and had more or less stalked the young woman for the last two days, trying to come to a decision.

Killing her was still an option, but other than the fact that he didn't want it to come to that, he suspected that such a move would be both misguided as well as futile. Zachariah and his superiors would simply find another final seal and start preparing it. And this time he might not discover what it was until it was too late. No, far better that the seal remain half-formed and hidden, although he wasn't certain he'd be able to keep her that way.

If he could manage it, he would like to give Anna the chance to remain human and out of Heaven's clutches. He owed her that much… And to be honest, it was in his best interest as well.

After taking one more look at the former angel and reassuring himself that she was still going unnoticed by Heaven and Hell, he flew off. It was long past time for him to relieve Rachel as the prophet's guard.

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Rachel watched the prophet with a slight frown parked in the space between her eyebrows. Even though he had been getting new visions, Chuck had spent the last few days fixated on editing chapters that covered events that had occurred several months earlier.

"Rachel."

Startled, she turned to see Castiel watching her with an uneasy expression on his face.

"Castiel…" She found her mouth froze open, as she didn't know how to explain that she'd failed to notice him arrive. If he'd been a threat to the prophet…

His frown deepened. "Rachel. Is something wrong?"

She shook her head. "No, sorry. I was merely worried about the Prophet. He is correcting old work rather than writing down the vision I believe he received earlier."

Cas gave Chuck a brief glance. As usual, the man gave no indication that he knew angels were guarding him. "He is probably uncertain on how to describe what he has seen."

"So he is doing something else until it falls into place?" She watched as the writer shuffled though his post it notes, shook his head at one of them and then changed a character's eye colour on the page up on the screen.

"I believe so, yes."

Rachel nodded and then tilted her head as she looked Castiel over. "You appear to be well. Is the task you were undertaking with Uriel complete?"

Cas almost shook his head in disbelief. He had worried that leaving Rachel to deal with the Prophet for the two extra days would have been suspicious. He should have remembered that Heaven was good at assigning duties, but even with Angel Radio, they were not very good at bothering to relay updates about them.

"It is," he said, answering her question. "Thank you for taking over this duty while I was gone."

She smiled slightly. "I am glad to have helped." There was a moment when it seemed that she would say something more, but then it was gone. To anyone else watching it would appear that she disappeared abruptly in a flutter of wings. Castiel however, took a moment to watch her go.

He didn't notice that Chuck had done the same.

"You know she 'likes' you, don't you?"

Cas startled slightly. "I do not know what you're talking about."

The prophet looked up from the computer screen and gave him an uncertain smirk. Castiel returned it as an annoyed glare before slumping slightly.

"I value her as a friend, a comrade at arms and a sister, nothing more."

"Nothing?"

Cas huffed out a breath. Somehow, he didn't think that what Chuck was asking would be covered under valuing her as his lieutenant and having to kill her when she'd tried to stop him after finding out exactly what he'd been doing to win the war against Raphael. It wasn't anything he wanted to discuss, or even think about.

"Nothing."

"Hmmm. Doesn't stop her from caring."

Cas nodded. "Yes, I know." Though knowing didn't help. In fact, it confused him just as much now as it had in the original timeline.

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Sam made a face at the half-dry load of clothes, closed the door to the dryer and pumped in enough quarters for another twenty minutes of drying time. This late at night he was alone in the Laundromat, except for the owner, who had fallen asleep in the back office once he was certain that the only thing Sam planned on doing was laundry.

Sam sat and watched the clothes spin for a few minutes. The motion as almost hypnotic and it took some effort to look away to check the front of the building. Dean was out picking up the supplies to make new hex bags (yes, the dick had disappeared them again), but should be back soon.

A young woman came in with a basket of laundry and a bottle of detergent. She gave him a little smile and headed over to the washing machines. He smiled back. Definitely cute, with long brown hair and beautiful brown eyes. If he'd been Dean, he'd have given her about half a minute before going over to try to pick her up.

If he were Dean, which he wasn't.

He turned back to watching the laundry spin around in the dryer.

"Excuse me?"

Blinking, he turned to see the young woman a few steps away from him, a hopeful expression on her face.

"Would you have any quarters? The change machine isn't working."

"Uh, sure." He reached into one of the duffle bags. Fact was he had a ton of change. A while back Dean had been looking for money for a parking metre. Annoyed at how long it was taking him to scrap up the change, Cas had zapped about $500 worth of quarters into the Impala's trunk. Thankfully, they had been rolled into tubes, or Dean would probably have tossed a fit.

"I'm Jane…by the way." She really did have a nice smile.

"Sam." He said as he counted out twenty quarters and exchanged them for the five-dollar bill she was holding.

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Dean walked into the Laundromat to find Sam chatting amicably with a young woman. She was cute and his brother was obviously interested. Dean considered just easing back out the door before they noticed him.

"Dean."

Eh, too late.

"Sammy. Who's your lovely friend?"

"Dean, this is Jane. Jane, this is my older and less good looking brother, Dean."

Dean gave him a glare. "I'd go 'hey' but you'd probably find some way to use it against me."

Jane gave Dean a smile and a nod and turned back to check on her laundry.

Dean leaned in closer to his brother so he could speak quietly into his ear. "I could make myself scarce for a couple of hours."

Sam gave him an annoyed look before going over and pulling the now dry load of laundry out of the machine. With quick efficiency, he folded them and packed them into duffle bags. He tossed one of the bags to Dean and shouldered the other one himself before heading for the door.

"Night Sam. Thanks for the quarters." Jane gave him a smile and a wave. He returned it with an almost bashful nod and a smile of his own. Then he was outside, Dean following him.

"Did you just meet her tonight?"

He glanced at his brother, expecting him to be smirking. Instead, Dean had a frown on his face.

"Yeah. Why?"

Dean's frown lasted a few moments more, then he shook his head. "Nothing. Never mind." He tossed his duffle bag into the back seat and got into the car. Sam followed and both brothers gave the Laundromat another look before Dean pulled the car out and they headed back to their motel.

Inside, Jane looked herself over. With a frown, she noticed the paper and plastic band around her right wrist. With a quick pull she broke it and let it flutter to the ground as she walked to the door and exited, leaving her laundry behind.

The band caught an odd eddy of air from the front door and flipped over a couple of times, before landing print side up, showing the name of a hospital along with a patient's name.

Jane Doe.

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Chuck sat down at his computer, placed his hands on the keyboard and stared at the blank word document for several minutes. A house, a family in danger, children twisted and abused until they were little more than savage animals, he'd seen it all and all of it had hurt.

He took his hands off the keyboard and sat back with a sigh. "You should go visit Dean."

Castiel phased into sight. "Is he in danger?"

"No, it's over, but that doesn't mean he doesn't need you." He glanced at the angel, who appeared ready to bolt, but was still angel enough to hesitate before abandoning his post.

"Go. I'll pray if I need you."

"You are certain?"

Chuck nodded. "Yeah. Just remember, if something does happen, the prayer will sound a lot like me screaming like a little girl."

Cas nodded. "I will keep that in mind."

Chuck shook his head at the empty space Castiel had just been occupying.

"One of these days I'll say something and he won't take it literally." He frowned and started paging through his notes. "Wait, isn't that one of the seals?"

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The Impala was parked in a highway rest area. Sam was in the front seat, slumped against the passenger side window, asleep. Dean leaned against the front of the car, a cooler at his feet and a beer in his hand as he stared at a sad attempt at a children's playground. With a sigh, he took a mouth full of the amber liquid, swallowed and then closed his eyes, making a serious attempt to think of nothing.

He opened his eyes to the sound of wings and an angel standing beside him.

"Dean."

"Hey Cas." Dean glanced around with a slight frown on his face. "Did I fall asleep?"

"No. Chuck suggested I visit. He implied that your last job may have been more…unpleasant than usual."

Dean shook his head and drank his beer. "Nosy prophets."

"He has little choice in the matter."

Dean snorted. "Yeah, I suppose." He bent and pulled a beer out of the cooler, handing it to the angel. Cas looked as if he would refuse it, then took the bottle and twisted the top off, taking a drink before leaning up against the car next to Dean. For a few moments, there was peace.

"People are whacked."

Cas froze with his drink half way to his mouth and turned to glance at Dean, a questioning look on his face.

Dean knocked back the last of his beer and started to peel the label from the bottle.

"I mean demons, vampires, werewolves… I get it. They are that way because they're supposed to be that way. We don't have to be." He sighed and stared out at the playground. "Not going to say something about free will?"

Cas took a sip of his beer. "Didn't intend to."

Dean snorted.

"I can oblige, if you wish."

Dean waved him off. "No, no. It's just…I wish that this time my best choice hadn't been to kill some kid who never really got the chance to be human, and that someone else wouldn't have had to do the same to his sister, all because the man that fathered them was as much a monster as anything we've ever hunted."

"And if you hadn't made that choice?"

Dean's eyes tightened in a wince. If he and Sam hadn't been there, then the family would be dead, or possibly worse in their son's case. His own guilt and discomfort were a small price to pay for saving them.

"Doesn't mean I have to like it."

Cas downed the last of his beer. "No, it doesn't." That was part of free will too.

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Deanna looked over the neat piles of files and printouts. They'd gone through everything taken from Niveus and she was certain that there wasn't enough bleach in the world to scrub the taint of that place from her mind. Beside her Ellen glared at the stacks of paper.

"Damn, I'm glad Jo didn't stay to help."

Deanna nodded and picked up the file that covered the Croatoan outbreak at River Grove, glad that her grandsons were unlikely to ever know that the testing done there had been as much about seeing if Sam would be immune to the virus as it was about fine tuning the cursed disease. Given that the rest of the files from that test were all of autopsies and vivisections done on the former townspeople it made her doubly glad the boys hadn't stayed to help with the paperwork. They couldn't have done anything to stop those people from being infected and essentially tortured and she was sure they knew that. Didn't mean they wouldn't feel guilty about it and they had enough on their shoulders without taking on any more weight.

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Rufus and Bobby dragged chairs to where Deanna and Ellen were standing and sat down.

"Looks like that's all of if."

Rufus grunted. The two women echoed his sentiment and went to find chairs of their own to sit in.

"So," Ellen asked. "What do we know?"

Bobby sighed. "I think we're damned lucky, because they seem to have put a lot of their eggs in this one basket."

The other three nodded. They had come to much the same conclusion.

"Anything important Earth wise appears to have been run through Niveus." Rufus said. Like Bobby, he couldn't help but quantify the statement with a little uncertainty. There was a reason that he and his old friend both qualified for the title of paranoid bastard.

"Everything, from keeping track of Sam and searching for the righteous man, to virus testing, to logistics for releasing and aiding the horsemen was run through this company or one of its subsidiaries. There is no mention of any secondary site for any of this." Deanna said frowning. "Doesn't mean there wasn't one. But if there was, they didn't know about it."

They couldn't help but grimace at the thought.

Ellen made an annoyed sound. "Bottom line it Bobby."

"As far as Earth goes, they've got no command structure. What the angels didn't purge the authorities took care of trying to figure out what happened. The few subsidiaries that could have stepped up to the plate to play are buried under audits and investigations and from the looks of it the demons jumped ship and left the mess to the human pawns they had fronting those businesses. Right now, getting orders to the demons has become more difficult and while Azazel's daughter will probably try and pull them together, it's apparent that she does consult with and sometimes takes orders from others that are working the Hell side of things. Oddly enough, this might give us an advantage. "Bobby gestured to a stack of files. "From some of the whining about unrealistic expectations that crept into the reports, Hell may be less aware of how things work than Niveus would have been. Means they'll probably want to take some time to rebuild their command structure. Might keep them distracted long enough for us to finish this, once and for all."

Deanna frowned. "Think they'll build another Niveus?"

"Maybe. If it were me, no. I would break things into cells, keep everything on a need to know basis."

Rufus shook his head. "If they had more time, sure. But they don't. Their chances to free their 'Father' are slipping through their fingers. They don't have the time or the tools to be intricate. What they'll need to be is a hammer."

They all winced. Because they knew that meant that they and every human on the planet had just been designated as the nails.


	41. Chapter 41

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Author's note: Finally.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 41

"Henricksen, good to see you back. Your batteries recharged?"

"Yes sir." Victor nodded to his supervisor, SSA Taylor, already wishing he'd just kept hunting with Jo. He almost smiled at the thought. It had been a very long time since he'd felt this way after a vacation. Usually there was just relief at being able to work again.

"Good. Dawson's back by the way."

Victor perked up. With his partner's return, maybe he could finally get back out in the field.

"He'll be on desk duty for the next four to six weeks."

Or not.

"So you've been assigned a rookie until Dawson's cleared for field work."

"Ahh, what?" He had to ask, the surprise was just that…surprising. He'd been trying to get a temporary partner the entire time Dawson was laid up and had been turned down each time.

His supervisor nodded. "No point in keeping both of you benched. Your new partner's at your desk, looking over your next case."

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SSA Taylor couldn't help but enjoy the look of lost shock on Henricksen's face, even if he felt some of it himself. For weeks, he'd been trying to get Victor back in the field, if just so he didn't have to listen to the agent whine. Then the man takes a vacation and a little while later the director's asking him why Henricksen is on desk duty, when it was that same director that turned down the last two requests he'd made to assign the man a temporary partner and get him out from underfoot.

He'd looked so very confused when Taylor brought it up and embarrassed when he'd found his own signature on the paperwork. The man actually apologized, which was a surprise, because lately, he'd been kind of a dick.

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Victor detoured on his way to his desk to welcome Dawson back. The agent was still moving stiffly and Henricksen could see why it would be several weeks before the man would be back out in the field. Since he was desk bound he'd taken over going through the cold cases and Victor made a mental note to dig out the files (minus the one about the roadhouse) that he'd locked in his desk before going on vacation and pass them on to the other agent.

Continuing to his desk, he discovered that his new partner was a female agent. One who'd probably heard a few horror stories about the man she was teamed with if the set to her shoulders was anything to go by.

He held out a hand and she met his handshake with a firm grasp.

"Special agent Victor Henricksen?"

He nodded.

"I'm SA Rae Urquart."

"Pleasure to meet you." He glanced at the file she'd been paging through when he'd walked up. "Care to bring me up to speed on what we're doing?"

"Of course." She laid the file open on the desk, completely missing her partner freezing at the sight of the pictures.

"I'm sure you heard about what happened at Niveus Pharmaceuticals." He managed to mold his face into a mask of polite interest before she turned her eyes from the file, to him.

"All cases connected to the incident are being turned over to Federal agencies and we've been assigned to take over the investigation into the death of one of their officers. He disappeared at the same time that everything went nuts over there and his body turned up a few days later."

Victor nodded. Staring at the picture of the victim, he asked a question that he already knew the answer to.

"The victim's name?"

"Tyson Brady."

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Crowley clamped down on a desire to groan when Meg showed up at his home. Really, if he thought he could get away with it and still make it to the top of Hell's hierarchy he'd kill the bitch himself rather than wait for the Winchesters to do it. Problem was he couldn't. She was stalwart in her support of Lucifer, which gave her the support of Hell. If he took her down the other demons would have his guts for garters. If the Winchesters did it, well, everyone already hated them; they'd just add it to their bill and continue as they always had.

Still, a demon could only take so much and he was getting damned tired of her little errands.

"I need a locator spell."

Crowley tucked his hands into his pockets and shook his head. "Won't work. I've already tried every trick in the book. None of them will find the Winchesters."

Meg smiled. "That's not what it's for."

That raised one of his eyebrows. "Do tell."

"We need a righteous man and Dean's not playing ball. We've had our eyes on a few other candidates…"

Crowley sucked in a quiet breath. He'd missed that little tidbit of information.

"…But with Niveus' meltdown we don't have time to work on any of them. Therefore, I need a spell that will help me find the best candidate to be The Righteous Man. Because at this point I don't care who he is, just as long as he does what he's supposed too."

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Castiel was still watching over the prophet when magic rattled the wards at Adam's school. He noted it and almost put it from his mind. Gabriel had been in and out of the area several times in the last while and this had a flavour that he associated with the other angel. However, whatever was happening was more than the usual travel and transformation spells the Archangel used as causally as another would breathe. This magic had weight, moving from an annoying hum, to a wild thread of dark music, to a deafening crescendo.

"Uh."

"Go." Chuck didn't even look up from his computer screen.

"Are…"

"Yes, I'm sure." He shook his head at the sound of wings and leaned back to read over what he'd just written.

"Way too many things that can still go wrong." Chuck poured himself a drink, knocked it back, savouring the burn for a moment, before sighing and setting his fingers back on the keyboard to type.

_Castiel appeared on top of a campus building and looked down on the crowd gathering around the emergency vehicles._

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Castiel appeared on top of a campus building and looked down on the crowd gathering around the emergency vehicles.

Frowning, he took a closer look. Ambulances, police cars and a van from animal control were parked haphazardly all over the area. Added to the mess was a tipped over semi with a now broken open cattle trailer. Several head of cattle, bulls actually, wandered the area.

"Hey bro. Popcorn?" An archangel appeared on the ledge, holding a bowl of fluffy whiteness.

"Gabriel, what have you done?"

The older Archangel turned his head to look at him. Cas' shoe scraped through the rooftop grit as he shifted back slightly. The expression on his brother's face was eerily similar to the one he'd worn when he'd come close to smiting him after Raphael's death.

"I'm not a tame lion, you know."

Castiel's mouth froze open for a moment.

"I… I don't understand that reference."

Gabriel chuckled. "I love you bro, and I actually may want to help you save the world, but I'm still who I am…"

"And that is not tame." Cas finished for him.

"No, it isn't."

Nodding, Cas walked over and stood beside his brother.

"What has occurred?"

Gabriel sighed. "The day Adam moved in, a couple of idiots tried to rip off his stuff. I chased them off and dropped a little spell on them. Any time they stole something on campus, they'd have really bad luck."

Cas watched the scene below, a crease settling between his eyes as he watched two sealed body bags loaded into one of the ambulances.

"How bad."

There was a shrug. "Really depended on what they stole, and how often they did it."

The other medical van was busy as paramedics strapped a blanket wrapped young woman onto a gurney. Even at this distance, Cas could see the bruising on her face and a 'closer' look gave him a list of injuries that reminded him of the ones Dean had after Lucifer nearly beat him to death. Although Dean at least hadn't been raped on top of it and unlike the two bodies, her injuries were the result of something other than the cattle.

"It was a better spell than I'd realized. Freak accident with a shipment of bulls that was going to the College of Agriculture's student farm and some very upset bovines with horns equal two rapist trampled and then gored to death." Gabriel took a perfectly popped piece of popcorn and flicked it down into the crown. "Of course, given what they stole from her, they got off easy."

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Adam pulled a piece of popcorn out of his hair and looked up, but couldn't find where it came from. Cooper stood beside him, his attention fully on the young woman being carefully loaded into the ambulance.

"They really pissed something off."

Adam's head jerked towards his roommate.

"What?"

Cooper blinked and then seemed to shake himself. "Nothing man."

Adam frowned at the answer but didn't push. "Let's get out of here."

Cooper nodded in agreement and followed him through the crowd.

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Zachariah mulled over the request in front of him. He might have dismissed the petition for reassignment out of hand but for two reasons.

First, as a newly created Archangel, Uriel was answerable only to Michael and the head Archangel didn't actually seem to care who watched the Winchesters and the Prophet, just as long as it was done. And second, Uriel was definitely losing his sense of humour when it came to the two humans. There was a real possibility that he could snap and a dead Sam and Dean Winchester were currently not in Heaven's best interest.

Zachariah tapped his fingers on the desk in front of him and frowned. Reassigning Castiel to the Winchester felt… Dangerous, for some reason. Not that everything going wrong stemmed from the moment he'd somehow pulled the righteous man out of Hell early. It went further back than that. At least to when Sam Winchester had managed to kill Lilith before the other seals had gone down.

He'd tried limiting Castiel's involvement with them by having him continue his duties in Heaven, but he'd then gone and used those duties to storm a demon stronghold on Earth and now those… things were dealing with the fallout from that rather than finding ways to break the seals. The majority of Heaven saw it as a great success, so he couldn't punish the angel for it and assigning him to the Prophet was high profile enough to appear as a reward for the service. However, there were already whispers gathering about how Chuck Shurley wasn't being protected by an Archangel and more than one discussion had been heard to the belief that Castiel should simply be raised to that level so he could properly perform his duty for Heaven.

Castiel was too much of a 'Boy Scout' to allow him that much power. He needed to be assigned elsewhere and quickly.

Anywhere other than the Winchesters would appear suspicious. He would have to go back to them, but be kept busy with other duties and preferably out of Heaven….

A smirk worked its way across Zachariah's face. Castiel might be troublesome in his zeal, but he was also stalwart and true and had always served Heaven to the best of his abilities. Like any other angel, he knew how to work the system, but outright disobedience was anathema to him.

Zachariah smile widened. He knew exactly what extra duties to assign the angel.

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Castiel almost paused as he passed Uriel on his way to see Zachariah. The other angel nodded at him, but wouldn't meet his eyes. Castiel had enough experience with guilt by now to know it when he saw it. It was disturbing, as Uriel very rarely appeared to feel such emotion. Anger and frustration yes, yet killing his brothers and sisters in the original timeline hadn't seemed to acquaint him with the emotion of guilt. So why now?

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When Castiel stepped out of Zachariah's office, a dazed expression on his face, Uriel was waiting for him.

"I am sorry brother."

Cas blinked, his eyes clearing fractionally. "What?"

"I did not expect him to reassign you to… Them."

Cas had to clamp down on the desire to laugh, because unlike his usual huff of amusement, this would probably have been loud and hysterical.

"It is of no concern Uriel. I had expected this to occur at some point." Hoped actually. It was his other assignment that had him disconcerted.

Uriel looked as if he would like to comfort Castiel further, but while they were brothers, a physical showing of such sentiment was unusual among angels. Uriel simply nodded and flew off, no doubt to take up his position as the prophet's protector once more.

Left alone, Castiel looked down at the object in his hand, and remembered what had happened a few minutes earlier.

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"Castiel. How have you been?" At some point Zachariah had perfected a smile that even a used car sales man would have found smarmy. Cas managed to hold his ground in the face of his 'superior'despite the uneasiness he felt. A pissed off Gabriel was far more frightening.

"I am… well."

"And the prophet?"

"Chuck Shurley is also well and continues to write the Word of the Lord." He sent regular reports, so Zachariah should know that… Unless they'd started to notice the differences in the Prophet's visions.

"Good, good."

Cas almost blew out a breath of relief. Disinterest was evident in his boss' voice and he had the suspicion that Zachariah would have said the exact same thing if he'd told him that the prophet had taken to wearing pink tutus and tap shoes. Whatever he was here for, it had nothing to do with Chuck.

"You've done a wonderful job, protecting the prophet; however it is time for Uriel to take up that duty again."

Cas opened his mouth to agree, but Zachariah overrode him, apparently expecting a protest. "The prophet needs to have an archangel watching over him, and we need you elsewhere."

Castiel nodded. "Of course." He put just a touch of reluctance into his voice.

"You will once more watch over the Winchesters; however your duties in Heaven have been passed on to others."

This time Castiel did intend to protest, but the cherubim once more overrode him.

"We have a second chore for you. One that will take up much of your time and will hopefully tap into whatever it was that let you find the Righteous Man when he was hidden from us."

"Ah, and that chore is?"

Zachariah pulled an item from the pocket of his suit coat. A crystal vial full of light hung from a chain and dangled from his fingers.

"We need you to find the angel this grace belongs to."

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Castiel looked at the vial of grace, his eyes wide. It definitely belonged to Anna. Suspecting that Zachariah's orders were some sort of trap, he'd dug deep into the memories of the horror he'd once felt at the idea of a fallen angel and let them show on his face.

"You were probably too busy with Dean Winchester at the time, but the presence of your former superior was felt for a few days after you pulled the righteous man from Hell. Something has since cloaked her from us."

He held out the Grace to a startled Castiel.

"Hopefully, this will help you find her."

Cas took the vial and chain. "Am I to kill her once I locate her?" He wasn't sure if he should be concerned that Zachariah knew Anna was female. As an angel, she had preferred female vessels, so it probably wasn't much of a stretch to believe she would be born one after she fell. And he'd hardly have Castiel search for her, if he already knew where she was.

Right?

"No, bring her to me. She will have to be questioned first."

Cas tightened his grip around the Grace. He'd given Anna up once, he would not let that happen again.

"I'm sure I don't need to tell you how important this is Castiel. She must be found before the demons stumble over her. With enough torture even a former angel can be forced to remember and she knows too much to let them have her."

Castiel bowed. "I will check on the Winchesters and then start my search."

Zachariah nodded and turned to other work, his usual method of dismissal.

Cas left the room quickly, to have his brief discussion with Uriel, then he simply stood there and stared down at the Grace, trying to figure out if he'd been handed the solution to their problems, or the obstacle that would destroy them all.

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Zachariah didn't look up from what he was working on as an angel entered the room from a side office.

"Follow him."

The angel bowed and flew off.

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Castiel bounced back and forward between his 'search' for Anna and his duty to look after the Winchesters. When he last checked on them, they were just wrapping a job involving… Magicians? In any case, they were both well, if depressed. He stayed only long enough to pass a request on through them to Bobby.

He dove into his pursuit of Anna, making sure to be everywhere she wasn't. His first stop had been to visit the tree where her Grace had landed. It would have been suspicious if he hadn't done that much.

The vial of Grace shone a little brighter in the presence of the oak it had created and would probably do the same in Anna's presence. Cas looked at it and sighed. In some ways, this reminded him of his search for God, only in reverse.

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Meg looked over Crowley's alter and frowned.

"This had better work this time."

Crowley nodded without looking at her, busy setting up the spell. He'd already delayed things several days by scrying directly for Dean Winchester, then trying a little less directly by searching for the Righteous Man. Neither attempt had worked.

Now, they were going to look outside the box.

Crowley set the last piece in place and glanced up at Meg.

"Alright. This spell will find us someone who can lead us to the Righteous Man, be he Dean Winchester or someone else."

Meg waived a hand at the altar. "So cast it already."

Grumbling, Crowley poured oil onto the prepared surface and said the incantation he'd modified for this spell.

Both demons gazed into the black mirror the spell created, watching as it showed them what they were seeking. Crowley pulled back first.

"Well, that's… unexpected."

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Someplace else, something wearing a face that didn't belong to it looked up from his meal and searched the air for something. His sister glanced over from her own dinner, a questioning look on her face.

He shrugged. "Don't know. Suddenly felt like we were being watched."

She looked around herself, but the crypt they were in was empty. They returned to their meal. A fan of dark meat, her brother chose and bit into a nice meaty thigh. It worked out well between them. After all, she always had preferred the arms.


	42. Chapter 42

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 42

Henricksen stared down at the cold dead body and wished he'd put in for retirement rather than a 'vacation'. Beside him, his new partner was breathing in a pattern that almost everyone took up when they were trying to avoid throwing up. Any other time he might have dug into her a bit for the weakness, but he couldn't deny that the body was causing him a certain amount of nausea as well. Not only was the damage extensive, but the length of time it had been kept was causing it to decompose even with refrigeration, giving it a slightly mummified look.

The coroner stood on the other side of the body. Victor suspected that the man was amused by their reactions, but was too professional to show it.

"Mr. Tyson Brady." The coroner flipped open a file and started to read from it. "Cause of death, stabbing." He looked at the body and shook his head. "Which is amazing, given that he also has a caved in skull, twenty three broken bones, extensive bruising, advanced kidney and liver failure, several STDs, and an assortment of other, comparatively minor injuries." He looked up at the agents. "To be honest, I don't know how he was alive long enough for someone to kill him."

Victor had been uncomfortable when he'd found out that the Winchesters had used the knife on Brady rather than exorcising the demon. Everyone, including Jo had told him that it wouldn't have mattered. Demons keep bodies looking good, but they don't actually heal them. Once vacated, Brady would have died from all the injuries his body had taken over the years. Unhappy, Victor had grudgingly accepted the explanation.

He just hadn't quite believed it until now.

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Since the nearest field office was in Los Angeles they set up shop in Bakersfield's East Police department, since that division had originally caught the case.

Victor poured himself a glass of water and noticed that his partner did the same. Apparently neither of them were willing to test their still somewhat queasy stomachs against police station coffee.

The detectives that had been working the case turned over their files with only a token measure of grumbling.

"So, you guys want to give us the highlights?" Victor sat down at the table in the small meeting room they were borrowing and made a gesture for the detectives to sit as well. SA Urquart took the seat next to him at the same time the others sat down across from them.

"Well, the body was obviously dumped here. Estimated time of death has him killed a couple of days before he was found. We found fibres that showed that the killer or killers wrapped the body in a tarp, one they took with them after they dumped the body."

Victor interrupted them. "Fibres? From a tarp? Was it canvas?"

The detective shook his head and pointed at the files, his expression one of annoyance at having to repeat something he'd already put in the report. "The fibres were from the heavy duty thread used to stitch the edges of a vinyl tarp. We were able to track the type of tarp from it, but it didn't help much as they're sold at a number of places across the country, including Wal-Mart."

The detective's partner took over at that point.

"The knife used on him appears to be the same size and general shape as a Bowie knife, except for the fact that the blade has teeth, rather than a straight edge."

"And the other injuries he sustained?"

Both detectives snorted. "No clue. Although they're why we're leaning towards the theory of there being more than one killer." He shrugged. "I'm personally betting on at least a three man team."

The other detective nodded in agreement. "Given what happened at Niveus, I'd say he was specifically targeted. There were other bodies found that night that had similar damages, but he was the only one who'd been taken away and dumped later."

Victor frowned. "When you say similar damage, do you mean stabbing?"

"Cause of death varied, but all of the victims had been worked over to a degree, though not as much our vic was. We figure with this guy it was either personal, or he knew something and they were very serious about finding out what it was."

"Maybe it was both." Agent Urquart said.

Oh yeah, it was both. He couldn't disagree with that theory, but he wouldn't do anything to help it along.

"Could be." One of the detectives replied to Urquart's statement as he slid another file across to them. "The life and times of Tyson Brady. Once you've read it, the fact that someone killed him will be a whole lot less surprising."

Victor twitched towards the file, but let his partner take it. Even if they'd dug up the fact that Brady knew Sam Winchester it wouldn't matter, as Sam was still listed as deceased.

Henricksen rose and shook hands with both of the detectives. "Thanks for your help. We'll let you know if we manage to find anything."

The detectives nodded, neither of them looked like they really believed him and turned to shake Agent Urquart's hand. The agent started; apparently distracted by something enough that having hands thrust towards her was a surprise.

Victor watched her exchange goodbyes with the detectives, a slight frown on his face. He'd have understood if she'd been preoccupied by the information in the files, but it appeared to him as if she were staring at him. It was probably nothing, but given how close he was to this case…

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It had taken two days for Crowley and Meg to track the vision they'd seen to Minnesota. They found the crypt they'd been shown, but the ghouls had already moved on and Crowley was forced to track them with the sputtering remnants of the scrying spell he'd cast earlier. It couldn't pinpoint them, but before it gave out it did point them east, towards Blue Earth MN.

Meg frowned when she saw the city and it took her a few minutes to figure out why the place was familiar. A smirk twitched across her lips when she realized that the trail for the righteous man had brought her to the place where she'd killed one of John Winchester's few friends. A pastor, if she recalled rightly.

Crowley gave her a dour look. "Should I be worried that you're amused?"

Her smile widened, but she shook her head. "Just revisiting fond memories."

Crowley raised an eyebrow at the answer, but didn't ask.

Blue Earth had two cemeteries. Neither of them appeared to offer much by way of usable hiding space, so they and a dozen or so minions started checking out abandoned and condemned houses and buildings in the area.

At the end of the day it was only dumb luck that Meg noticed she was missing a minion. With her and Crowley both having people in the field, the lines of communication were not always as clear as they should have been. One or two of her people would have reported to whoever was closest. The rest of them would have made sure to report directly to her. Some of them because they were loyal, the others, because they were masters at kissing ass.

Her curiosity became piqued when one of the latter failed to bring himself to her attention in his usual self-serving manner.

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Crowley looked over the neat row of houses that appeared to have been built during the mid to late 70s.

"Why was he even searching here? There isn't anything empty…" His eyes narrowed as he noticed the house with a for sale sign. "Never mind."

Meg snorted and started up the walk to the house. Crowley followed, trailed by four demons wearing bodybuilders. The rest of the demons set up positions throughout the neighbourhood.

Meg knocked politely at the door, a smile on her face. Crowley suddenly had the distinctly absurd image of the two of them going door to door, spreading the word of their 'Father'. He gave into an amused smirk for a moment, and then shook the thought off. He was signalling to one of the bodyguards to break the door down when it opened.

If the deal demon had been amused a moment ago, then the female real-estate agent with the plastic smile on her face was the antidote for it. His body actually shifted as if to take a step back before he steadied himself. He was the king of the crossroads; his own salespeople were some of the most evilly charismatic sellers in the market, there was no way he was going to allow himself to feel bothered by a human marketer.

And he'd believe that just as soon as his meat suit's skin stopped crawling.

"Hi, are you here to view the house?"

All of the demons blinked at the perkiness. Crowley realized that this was what you might get if you mixed a Barbie doll and a Stepford wife together and then let it work in sales.

Meg slipped her arm through his, leaned her head against his shoulder and smiled back at the woman.

"Yep. We're newlyweds, looking for our first place together."

He'd sooner sleep with a Cerberus.

"Of course." The agent looked at their bodyguards. "And them?"

"Our interior decorators." Crowley said, strapping on his game face and speaking up for the first time since she'd opened the door.

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The agent showed them into the living room. "Have a look around and while you're doing that I'll get you one of the detail pages from the kitchen."

Meg and Crowley smiled at her, though as soon as her back was turned Meg indicated to one of the bodyguards to follow her. The demon didn't catch on right away and the woman made it to the door of the kitchen before he started after her. Crowley used that small space of time to guess how many coats of paint it would take to get rid of the bad purple sponge job that the previous owners had seen fit to inflict upon the walls of their home.

The house wasn't very big, so even from the living room they could all hear the crunch of a shoe stepping into something gritty in the kitchen. It was followed by some very loud swearing and the minion throwing himself out of the kitchen.

"Salt."

Meg and Crowley stepped over the minion on their way to the kitchen, stopping in the doorway.

The kitchen's backdoor hung open, showing where the real-estate woman had actually gone. Salt was strewn across the floor, making crossing it undesirable. The naked body of the demon they were looking for lay draped over an ancient kitchen table, bloody bite marks down one of its legs. A box of kosher salt, probably left in the kitchen by the previous owners, sat on the kitchen counter.

Meg sent the bodyguards after the woman. Because of the salt, they were forced to leave by the front and circle the house to the kitchen door. Inside, Meg leaned against the doorway and shook her head.

"Stupid idiot must have smoked out when she hit him with the salt. Could have saved us a lot of trouble if he'd just found another body and reported in."

Crowley hummed in agreement and started to search. After a moment Meg joined him.

They found the real real-estate agent in an old freezer in the basement, at least a day dead and half-eaten.

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There weren't a lot of real-estate agents in Blue Earth and the surrounding area, so finding out who she'd been and where she lived required little more than an internet search and a flip through the local phone book.

The search of her home found a lot of things missing. Clothes, items of value, the car that should have been parked in the garage, etc. It also found them another freezer with a half-eaten body in it. The woman's husband if the pictures on the mantle were anything to go by.

Meg slammed the lid to the freezer shut and looked at Crowley as if she were considering how much better she'd feel after gutting him and adding his body to the large white appliance. He smirked back, confident that this was only wishful thinking on her part.

She frowned back at him and made an annoyed sound. "Alright. So it looks like our only lead has skipped town. Can you scry for them again?"

Crowley's face twisted up painfully. "The original spell collapsed. It'll take a day to set it up again. "

Meg growled.

"I can have people watching for them in the next town in every direction they could have gone." He hesitated a moment. "Assuming they still look like him and her, " He stared at the freezer for a moment. "And assuming one of them doesn't currently look like your partially eaten minion at the moment."

"See if you can find out what kind of car they're driving, and have everyone keep an eye out for… for all of them." Meg started up the stairs from the basement. "And start setting up the spell, just in case."

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Rufus climbed the few steps to the small landing and knocked on the door to the mobile home, asking himself how Bobby had talked him into this one. Dealing with psychics was annoying enough, but from the sound of this guy…

"Hey, you must be Rufus Turner." The bearded nerdy guy who answered the door said, smiling at him uncertainly.

"Yeah, I must." Be crazy, was what he must be. "So…"

"…You're here to look at the work I have in storage." The guy finished for him. He stepped outside and locked his door, which was when the hunter noticed that the man was already dressed for the outdoors. "I'm Chuck." Unlike anyone else that had just introduced themselves, the writer didn't bother to try to shake hands. Instead, he clattered down the steps and headed towards Rufus' truck.

Prophets, just as bad as dealing with a psychic would be. Bobby should be the one handling this. Hell, the suggestion to do this that the angel had sent through Sam and Dean had been for the old coot, but no, apparently the other hunter had already pulled an undercover with the man and wasn't sure how the poor schmuck would react if he showed up. An explanation that Rufus thought was bogus, because hey, prophet. The guy probably already knew.

The prophet Chuck gave him a fidgety look from beside the truck. Rufus made a grumbling noise and joined him, unlocking the vehicle so they could both get in.

"I brought a protected box, to take the material out in." He told the prophet once they'd buckled up.

Chuck gave him another self-conscious smile. "Hope it's a big one."

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Rufus glared at Bobby as he hauled the wooden box into the house and passed it off to the other hunter. Bobby gave him a grunt and a glare of his own as he staggered slightly under the weight of it.

"I take it you got all of it?"

Rufus snorted. "You wish. I'd need another six boxes to handle that. He's renting so many safety deposit boxes the bank should be giving him a group rate."

"Balls."

Rufus smirked. "Don't worry; we got all the thumb drives he's been storing stuff on. Most of the weight's from the paper only copies he kept before he started backing them up."

"Hmm." Hefting the box into a more comfortable position in his arms Bobby carried it down to the panic room and set it on a table. Being the paranoid bastard that he was he double-checked hex bags. With them in place it effectively made the room and everything in it invisible to both angels and demons.

He came back up to find Rufus raiding his refrigerator. A piece of cold pizza in one hand and a beer in another.

"I'm gonna need a protected laptop."

Rufus nodded and took a drink from his beer to help wash down the bite of pizza he'd just taken.

"You're probably more capable of setting up something like that than anyone I know." He thought about it for a moment. "Maybe Frank for the basic computer protection though?"

Bobby winced, but nodded. "Yeah, maybe."

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'Is that what I think that is?' The question was soft and curious.

Castiel started, looking up from his intense study of the vial of grace. It took him a moment to realize that the voice he'd heard hadn't come from outside of him.

'Jimmy?' Castiel asked internally.

'Yeah, guess I've been asleep longer than usual.' Castiel could sense his vessel's soul shifting, as if he were looking around. 'How's the whole, I'm the wedge between you and her going?'

'It is well.' He decided against mentioning that he'd begun to worry that Jimmy would never be able to gather enough power to wake again. 'We have blended, for the most part, except where you continue to separate the more important parts of ourselves. Oh, and 'she' has now switched to he. We are genderless as angels, so when we are in a vessel we refer to ourselves by the pronouns that are relevant to the sex of that vessel.'

Cas felt an emotion coming from Jimmy, one that he could only catalogue as relief.

'Good, that's… Good.'

It took Castiel a moment to realize how much it would hurt Jimmy if current time Castiel were still thinking of itself as a young female who had briefly been Clair Novak.

'So, I'll ask again. Is that what I think it is?'

Castiel looked down at the vial of grace, glad for the change of subject. 'Yes, it is Anna's grace.'

Confusion was an emotion easily identified. One that didn't completely go away even after Cas filled Jimmy in on what he'd missed while he'd slept.

'So, you're doing the whole, searching the world with a glowing pendant, version 2.0?'

'Yes. Time appears to even now be trying to me its bitch.'

It was good that Jimmy could still laugh. It reminded Cas of Dean laughing outside the bordello, but at least this time he got the joke… Sort of.

'Given that, I thought it best to search for Anna in many of the same places I travelled to while looking for God.' Cas told Jimmy, once the laughter had died down.

'And that would explain why we're at Disneyland?'

Castiel tilted his head as he watched a family wearing Mickey and Minnie mouse ears walk by.

'I believe it is reasonable to hope that God could be found at 'The Happiest Place on Earth'. At any rate, it was more likely than finding him on a flat bread.'

Castiel listened to his vessel for a moment, then shook his head, pocketed the grace and started to move through the crowd.

It took Jimmy another five minutes to stop laughing.


	43. Chapter 43

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

XXXAuthor's noteXXX

Just to remind, Adam's roommate, Cooper Hayden, is an original character. Don't panic, he's not playing a major part in the story. In fact, given recent cannon events, he'll probably be doing less than I intended.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 43

After Disneyland, (and a ride on the flying elephants that had Jimmy renew his laughing bout) Cas visited two cathedrals and a healing spring. It was while he was at the spring that he noticed the other angel following him. They were stealthy enough that he didn't know who it was and he had just decided that ignoring them and allowing them to waste their time fruitlessly stalking him across the planet was the best course of action, when he felt the wards he'd set up in Windom MN scream warnings as several demons crossed them.

Castiel was heading to the top of Mount Everest at the time. Muttering swear words in Sumerian, he dropped back into visual view at base camp and took a moment to think. After a quick check for the angel following him he started for the top of the mountain again, before abruptly changing directions. Flying to Egypt, he appeared between the feet of the Sphinx just long enough to take a breath and let the monument's natural power obscure his own. He moved again, dropping himself into the middle of Stonehenge for the same purpose, startling a group of tourist in the process, before travelling on to the United States.

The safe house in Colorado wasn't technically all that safe these days, but it still stood and the warding held. Cas took enough time to make sure he'd lost the angel before shifting his personal wards, effectively disguising himself as Kaseva. That done, he flew once more, this time to the safe house in North Dakota.

Only then did he pull out his cell phone and made a call.

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Dean glanced at his brooding brother and shook his head. This, this was why he was glad they'd never stayed in one place long enough to end up on a high school reunion list. Even going back to hunt a ghost at a school they'd only attended for a month had brought back more old crap than he'd wanted to think about and it obviously hadn't been any better for Sam.

Sam stared straight ahead, and yes, the younger Winchester knew he was brooding. Fighting a ghost he felt partially responsible for creating… Well, he was still trying to wrap his brain around it. Other than stopping the ghost, the only good that had come of the hunt was being able to cross a teacher off his, 'was he a demon?' list. The English teacher that had inspired him to go to college was human, but the question the man had asked at the end of their conversation felt off. Like it was meant to push him in the wrong direction.

Was he happy?

He glanced at Dean and remembered the other timeline Cas had told them of. In that one he would by this time be sneaking around behind his brother's back to shack up with a demon, drink her blood and lose himself in an addiction he would think of as power.

A shudder travelled through his body and he gave himself a shake. No, maybe he wasn't happy, but he'd take this over that. He sighed. The real question was, would he have been happy with Jess?

Hell, yes.

But, that was over now and there was nothing that could change that, apparently not even time travel. This was his life, and surprisingly he'd come to find that the Family Business suited him better than he'd ever thought possible. Maybe he'd change his mind again in a few years but for now… well, he wasn't happy all of the time, nobody was. However, he was happy enough of the time.

Dean's phone went off giving both brothers a break from the introspection that had dogged them for the last hundred miles.

One hand on the steering wheel, Dean dug his phone out of his pocket with the other, flipping it open once he'd given the display a quick glance.

"Hey Cas, what's up?"

Sam got worried the moment Dean straightened up in his seat.

"Can you pick us up on the way?"

"Yes."

Dean's eyes went to the rear-view mirror and Sam twisted around to find a shadow wrapped Castiel sitting in the back seat.

"Wha?" Was all Sam got out before Dean slammed on the brakes. Turning to catch himself on the dashboard with both hands, Sam looked out the front windshield and allowed himself a second of surprise when he found they were parked in front of Kate Milligan's house in Windom MN. That second was long enough that he had to scramble to keep up. Dean and Cas were already half way out of the car before he even reached for the door handle.

"The ghouls?" Sam asked as he closed the passenger side door and joined them on the sidewalk.

Cas shook his head. "No. A few minutes ago several demons entered the town."

"Just here?" Dean asked as his eyes searched the neighbourhood. Sam had his attention on the house, a frown creasing his forehead as he looked it over.

"Yes." Cas answered, understanding the short question. "The wards at Adam's school have not been crossed." Cas looked the area over, his brow puckering. "I'm going to check on something." He disappeared with a blink.

Dean snorted. "Wow, he actually warned us that time."

Sam smirked. "Give it another decade or two and you might actually teach him to say goodbye before he does that, though I kinda doubt it." He waved a hand towards the house. "I don't think Kate's home. Her car isn't here."

Dean's face scrunched up in annoyance. "Must be at the hospital."

Sam nodded, already scrolling through the numbers on his cell phone for the hospital.

"Hi. Could I speak with Kate Milligan please?"

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While Sam was busy on the phone, Dean went up and rang the doorbell, listening for any sounds inside the house. Hearing nothing, he turned back to his brother and almost ran into Cas.

"Son of a…" He took a calming breath and let it out. "Find anything?"

"Yes. There are four demons in town and they have aligned themselves along one of the highways into and out of town. I believe they are waiting for someone to get here."

"Which highway?"

"Seventy-one."

A map unfurled itself in Dean head. He had driven so much of the United States that he doubted it was even possible for him to get lost when it came to the major roadways.

"So, whatever's coming is either travelling out of Jackson or coming off the I-90."

"What is on the I-90?"

Dean shrugged. "Lots of things on it. Off it as well. I've driven it plenty of times. Bobby's place is a short ways off it. Pastor Jim's place was too."

Dean's head dropped down with a sigh as Cas disappeared once more.

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It turned out that demons were camped out on the highways to every city and town both on and off the I-90. Cas tracked them as far West as the Minnesota state line and as far East as Rochester NY. When he couldn't find any of them further East than that, he returned to Rochester and was just in time to see the demons receive a call and pack up. Being lower-level demons, they were using an SUV rather than teleporting and the four of them piled into the vehicle and started driving West.

The demons at the next town had also already left. When Cas checked from the other end of the gauntlet, he found the demons still waiting.

So whatever it was they were looking for, it was moving and it was heading West.

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Sam and Dean both shifted nervously as Kate Milligan glared at them. She wasn't their Mom, she wasn't even Ellen, but like her they'd quickly come to realize that she had a Mom's ability to make them feel like little boys that had been caught doing something stupid.

Which was silly, since it wasn't their fault that she'd had to cut her shift at the hospital short because demons had invaded her town.

Frowning, Dean gave that some thought and then dismissed it. He was certain none of them had done anything that would point the other side at Windom.

"Demons? Here?"

Dean tried his best smile on her. "Uh, yeah?"

Adam's mom took a deep breath and let it out. "Okay. That's what the salt lines are for, right?" She waved her hand towards one of the windows and its salty protection.

Dean nodded. "Works on ghosts too, but yeah, demon's hate the stuff."

"Good. Good." She nodded and then stiffened. "Does Adam have the same protections in his dorm room?"

Dean grimaced. "Yeah, yeah he does."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Only you haven't told him about any of this yet."

Dean suspected he would have been in serious trouble about then if Cas hadn't shown up and joined in the conversation.

"The demons appear to be searching for something."

Kate jerked when he appeared and took a moment to swallow her surprise. "Do you think they're looking for me and Adam?"

Cas frowned, and then shook his head. "No. I believe that whatever it is, it is currently on the move."

Dean closed his eyes and groaned. "Anyone want to take bets on whether or not it's coming here."

Sam snorted. And that was pretty much a no.

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Adam let out a startled yelp when Castiel appeared in the dorm room with his mother beside him. Loki popping in and out had made him extra jumpy about people appearing suddenly out of thin air. Still, he didn't let his surprise slow him down. That mom was with Kaseva meant something bad had to be up. The fact that she was carrying an overnight bag and looked anything but happy was just the kicker that guaranteed something supernatural had dropped in at home.

"The ghouls?" Sure, they were early, but who knows how long they were hanging around before they'd gone after him and mom?

Cas shook his head. "Demons. They appear to be searching for something and your hometown is in the path of that search. We thought it best to warn you and move your mother until they leave."

Wow, Adam thought, so that's what it feels like to have your bones turn to water. He shook the weakness off a moment later. He'd keep his mom safe first and freak out about the whole demon thing when he actually had the time.

"I need to return to your brothers and …"

Adam's roommate chose that moment to enter the room, his face in a book.

"Hey man." He greeted perfunctorily as he walked across the small room and sat down on his bed, without noticing the extra people.

Adam shook his head. "Hey Coop. Can I introduce you to my mom and a friend of my brothers?"

"Huh?" Cooper looked up and blinked. "Oh, hey, sorry. Didn't notice you there." He squinted a little, giving his eyes a rub when he couldn't seem to focus on Cas' shadow obscured features. "Man, I need to cut back on the reading."

Kate smiled at him. "It's nice to meet you… Coop?"

"Cooper Hayden."

Since his mom and his roommate where looking at each other, Adam was the only one who saw Castiel react to the name. He wasn't sure how Coop didn't notice as the hard blue gaze drilled into him. He could feel it and he was only on the edge of it.

"Uh, Cas?"

Thankfully, the angel blinked before turning his eyes towards Adam.

"I have to get back to your brothers." He looked at Cooper and gave him a nod. "It was good to meet you."

For a moment, Adam feared that Cas would simply disappear as usual. Instead he left by the door, apparently waiting until he was in the hall to vanish.

"So," Kate said. "Want to help me find a motel for the night? And then I'll take you guys out for dinner?"

"Oh, well..." Cooper started, obviously feeling awkward about joining them.

Adam quickly over rode the objections his roommate was about to make.

"We'd love to mom." A grin broke out on his face. Sure, the situation was crappy, but getting to see his mom was a gift and he'd make the most of it while she was here.

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As much as he might hate the bastard for a lot of things, including the sodding apocalypse countdown, Crowley had to admit that Azazel had done a good job training his 'daughter.' Getting demons to co-operate long enough to coordinate the search for the missing ghouls was a tricky balance of threat and bribery. More the first than the second of course, but those that forgot to sweeten the pot now and again eventually ended up on the menu.

Naturally, that made getting rid of her both more difficult and more necessary. Even if they never got Lucifer's cage open, she would always be there, messing up his plans. And that was too bad; she would have had a place as his lieutenant. Bella was a great personal assistant and he fully expected her to take over running the crossroads when he moved on the bigger things, but Meg would have been the perfect second in command to the King of Hell. It wouldn't work though, she would never give him the loyalty she'd given Azazel. She'd always be trying to stab him in the back.

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Dean frowned when Cas returned to the Milligan house. The angel's expression had that constipated look that meant he was thinking something over harder than he ought too.

"Hey man, you okay?"

Cas' frown deepened, but he nodded. "Yes."

Dean gave him a moment, sighing when the angel continued to think without saying anything.

"Wanna share with the class?"

"We are not in school." Castiel replied automatically, still frowning.

There was a nice wall beside him. Dean was sure that hitting his head against it would be less painful than trying to peel Cas out of whatever blue funk he'd fallen into, but he had to try. He wasn't too keen on having a distracted angel at his back during a demon attack.

"Cas!"

The hunter took a step back as the angel visibly started and looked around.

"Dean?"

"You all here now Cas?"

He gave the room another look and then nodded. "Yes, I apologise. I came across something that I hadn't noticed during the last timeline. I'm not sure where it fits in, or if it even does."

Great, and the only places he'd been in the last few minutes were here and Adam's school. "A dangerous something?"

"No, just… unexpected." He aborted the frown that was starting to reform. "I will think on it later. The demons and whatever it is they are chasing are the more important problem. The other is probably nothing more than a curiosity."

"If you're sure."

In Dean's opinion, the nod Cas gave him was buried under the most indecisive bit of body language he'd ever seen the angel express. He'd have called him on it, but they just didn't have the time.

"Okay then."

Cas stiffened suddenly, his eyes going wide.

"Or maybe not okay." Dean said, taking a small step towards the angel.

"Dude?"

Cas breathed out, and then said something short and explosive in Latin. Something Dean had no trouble translating. After the exorcisms, swearwords were the next thing Dean had learned in that language.

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Meg was not happy. Somehow, after turning off the I90, her quarry had vanished. Only the fact that one of her less than bright people had stopped at a supermarket for a six pack and munchies in the town they were staking out and had noticed the car they were looking for pull into the lot had saved the situation. Unfortunately the idiot hadn't been fast enough to stop the two people in the car from disappearing.

Meg glared at the abandoned vehicle, and then with one swift kick, caved the driver's side door in.

"Crowley, check with the police and any car lots or rental places. I want to know if anything with wheels has been stolen, bought or rented in the last hour." She ignored the sour expression on his face. Yes, sending him to do that was a waste of his abilities, but she had planned more for brawn than intelligence when picking people for this. Any other demon she sent would just make a mess of it. Probably quite literally.

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"The ghouls?"

Castiel's shoulders tensed in an almost shrug.

"Ghouls for certain, I made the wards extra sensitive when it came to that creature. However, I can not tell if they are the right ghouls." Cas looked around, realizing for the first time that something was missing. "Where is Sam?"

"Damage control."

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Crowley almost groaned as he stepped into the police station and found a 6'4" moose with a bad suit and an expertly done FBI badge standing at the counter. He'd have disappeared right then, the humans noticing be damned, but in the time it took to think about it Sam had already turned and spotted him.

Crowley held up a hand, stopping the hunter before he could say anything.

"Agent…? It's been a while, I'm afraid I've forgotten your name."

The much taller man gave him a 'you are a fungus' look, that the demon returned with interest as well as an annoying smirk.

"It's Winter." Sam told him through gritted teeth.

"Ah, right. Edgar, I believe."

Sam winced, because yep, Dean had struck again when it came to creating their IDs.

The police officer who stood behind the desk gave both of them a wary look. "You FBI too?"

Crowley snorted and pulled out his own ID flip case. "Interpol, actually."

Sam's eyebrows went up into his hairline, but he recovered quickly. "They're co-ordinating with us. It's sort of a joint exercise."

"Okay… well, I'll go see if the Chief is available yet."

Sam gave him a friendly nod, turning to glare at Crowley as soon as the officer had left them.

"Interpol?"

Crowley shrugged. "Not like I could pass for FBI with this accent." He raised one of his eyebrows in a question. "So, joint exercise?"

When the moose explained what they were trying to do, it was all he could do not to groan.

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A crowbar gouged into the doors of the mausoleum, the sound of metal and wood screaming as they tore apart was ignored for haste. A heave and a grunt later and the two were inside.

Eyes scanned the dates on the walls. One of them moved to a niche that had been filled in the last few months.

"Go older. Last thing we need is for someone local to recognize us."

His sister nodded and moved further into the space, looking for someone to eat.


	44. Chapter 44

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 44

"I don't suppose I could talk you two morons into giving up this little fantasy and getting the hell out of here?"

Sam's glare had Crowley suspecting that if they weren't in the middle of a police station he would now be sporting a certain magical knife between his third and fourth ribs.

"Guess that's a no." He sighed. "Meg's in town, she's looking for Dean."

"What?"

"Gentlemen."

Both the hunter and the demon jumped slightly when an older human with grey hair stepped up and held out a hand to them.

"I'm Chief Lambert, pleased to meet you."

The ritual of hand shaking took place and then the Chief walked them over to his office.

"Now, what can I do for you?"

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"Damage control?" Cas asked.

Dean rolled his eyes and shook his head for a moment. "Only way Kate would leave."

Cas frowned. He remembered Kate, Sam and Dean having a quiet argument while she was packing. At the time, he'd been paying more attention to the wards than to them.

Dean ran a hand through his hair. "Sam's pulling an FBI at the police station, trying to convince them to stay out of anything …weird that may happen in the next few hours. I also promised to chase away the neighbours if they come home before this is finished."

"That may complicate matters."

Dean shrugged. "Yeah, but you know, Kate insisted. Besides, I get sick and tired of losing bystanders. If a little extra work will make a difference, well…"

Castiel clamped down on any complaints he might have made about the delays this would cause. Despite the current modern literature, angels weren't all that patient and Cas less than some, especially when events were moving. Standing back to watch over the Earth for the last two millennium had done little to teach him the virtue and may have actually worsened the flaw. He knew the defect was responsible for some of the bad choices he'd made in the past and he would not compound his error further by grumbling about things he couldn't change now.

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Crowley walked out of the police station, already a couple of steps behind the moose and his stupidly long moose legs.

"I cannot believe they actually bought that."

Sam shrugged. "The government's run a lot of terrorist drills over the years."

"Sure, in the larger cities. Washington, New York, those kinds of places. Terrorists don't usually try to take over small towns." A thoughtful look crossed the demon's face. "Of course, when you think about it…"

"Don't."

Crowley gave him a smirk.

"I mean it Crowley. If demons start taking over towns…"

"Every hunter in the state will show up for the exorcism. I know."

Sam narrowed his eyes at the demon and Crowley countered with an innocent expression. With a sigh, Sam shook his head and let the argument go. There were more important things to worry about at the moment.

"What did you mean earlier, when you said Meg was in town and looking for Dean?"

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Demons might see better in the dark than humans did, but that didn't mean a flashlight wasn't a good idea, especially when crawling around mausoleums.

Meg used he Mag-lite to check the seal on one of the stone coffins next to her. A minion gave another an experimental shove, grunting and giving her a shake of his head when the lid failed to move.

"Wonderful." She gestured for him to leave, looked around one more time before following him out. They had to be somewhere and the cemetery was the best bet, especially as Windom actually had several above ground tombs for them to hide in. Enough in fact that her demons were spread a bit thin, searching them all.

"Boss." One of her people waved her over from the next mausoleum. This one slept eight and at least four of the resting places had been disturbed. Meg pulled out her cell phone.

"Crowley, I need you to check some obituaries. See if you can get some pictures to go with these names."

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Crowley had just finished explaining the 'round about' tracking spell he'd used, that had ultimately brought them to Windom looking for two ghouls, that according to the spell, were somehow suppose to lead them to the Righteous Man. He was still trying to parse out why Sam had tried to hide a startled reaction to the mentions of ghouls, when both their phones went off.

Crowley sighed when he heard his new orders. "Didn't any of the lugs you brought with you have enough brain cells between them to make one semi-intelligent person?"

He winced and pulled the phone away from his ear. Meg's voice carried, even over the tiny speaker

"Just get it done Crowley!"

Sam, who had stepped away and was listening to Dean warn him about the ghouls, smirked at the demon's discomfort before murmuring a quiet acknowledgement to what his brother was telling him.

"Sam… Do I hear Crowley in the background?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Crap. He's why the wards went off?"

"Uh…"

Crowley gave the younger Winchester a wicked grin, and promptly disappeared.

"Shit."

"Sam?"

"It's okay, but Crowley just pulled a vanishing act."

"And double crap. Get back here Sammy, now."

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As Crowley would have mentioned in another timeline, he was in sales. A good salesman did research. A busy and successful salesman, hired personal assistants to do it for them.

Bela might still be trapped in Hell as a human soul, but she fit in very well working for Crowley and knew how to delegate to get a job done. Five minutes Earth time later (longer Hell time of course), Bela sent the obituaries and a collection of pictures on each person to Crowley's mobile. It had almost literally been Hell getting magic and electronics to work together when he set up the phone and computer lines to his offices in Hell, but times like these it was worth every frustrating moment and blood sacrifice it had taken to pull it off.

He read the obits and flipped through the photos before popping off and dropping the cell phone in Meg's lap.

"I'm going for a drink." He disappeared again before the she-bitch even had time to look pissed off.

The bar he stopped in didn't have a hope of carrying a bottle of Craig, but it did have a few top shelf brands. Crowley was just taking his first sip when an older man and a young woman of questionable legal drinking age came in. Given the family resemblance, almost anyone would take them for a grandfather and granddaughter.

Crowley wasn't anyone. The demon choked slightly on his drink as he recognised the matches to two of the photos he'd been looking at just a few minutes earlier.

He quickly turned his back to them, keeping an eye on them in the mirror. The Grandfather and granddaughter settled in and ordered drinks. Either the ghouls hadn't spotted him, didn't remember him from Blue Earth, or they were confident that he wouldn't recognize them.

Along with the mirror, the wall behind the bar was covered in memorabilia from the owner's life. After a few minutes of the ghouls not doing anything interesting, he glanced up at the photos. He almost choked on his drink a second time as he spotted the article about the police recovering a whack load of stolen bodies.

"Bollocks." The demon said quietly, as he stared at an old newspaper photo, containing one John Winchester, half-hidden by a tree and a crowd of onlookers as the police dealt with seventeen recovered corpses.

It now occurred to him that he hadn't asked Sam Winchester exactly why they were in Windom, having assumed that a large number of demons landing on the place had set off the pet angel they seemed to be dragging around with them ever since Niveus.

He was beginning to think there was more to it than that.

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"So, Crowley and Meg started tracking the ghouls as a way to get to me?"

Sam shrugged while Castiel stood off to the side, frowning.

"In what universe does that make any sense?"

"This one, apparently." Castiel said, answering Dean's mostly rhetorical question. "You and the ghouls are in the same town at the same time, so the spell has done its job. And from the sound of it, the casting was general enough that Adam might have been the intended target."

"You think they could use Adam the way they were trying to use Dean?" Sam asked.

Cas nodded. "Yes, I believe it is possible. What you or Dean would sacrifice for each other, Adam would sacrifice for his mother. The ghouls could lead them to him. Not only that, they could cause the situation wherein Adam might sacrifice his soul to save her."

"Crap."

Castiel nodded, completely in agreement with Dean. The situation was indeed crap.

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So, to sum up, he'd found the ghouls. The bloody Winchesters, past and present were somehow involved with them, creating a mess that they were already sunk into up to their armpits and he now had to figure out what to do about it.

Well, he could call Meg.

The mental laughter was almost painful and once Crowley had recovered from it, he ordered a second glass of whiskey, sipping it slowly as he considered his other options.

The Winchesters?

Note to self, never snort while drinking, because Scotch up your nose, hurts.

Recovering from the assault on his nasal cavities, he returned to watching the carnivore couple in the mirror. It didn't take long to realize that despite an attempt at subtlety, the two of them had a real hard on for the bartender. They took turns watching him, and were always looking somewhere else when Barton turned towards them, but they weren't worrying much about the other customers noticing what they were doing.

It then occurred to him, if he wanted to know what was going on, there was someone he could ask.

Two someone's in fact.

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"This isn't the time Sis."

The young woman glowered at the drink in her hand.

"Then when will it be time? We're here, we've talked about this for months and I'm tired of living like this. Of hiding and scrounging when the cop and the hunter that killed our father are still alive when he isn't." She glanced over at the bartender. "We can take him tonight and go after Winchester's whore and spawn in a few days."

"And what about the demons? "

She shrugged and took a sip of her drink. "They're flukes. We probably screwed up something they were doing and they're pissed about it. Give them a few more hours and they'll stop looking for us."

"Mind if I join you?" They both jerked in surprise as a 'man' seemed to appear next to them. Crowley smiled and didn't bother to wait for an answer before sitting down in an empty chair at their table.

"So, which one of you was the real-estate agent?" He asked, his smile turning into a smirk at the shocked expressions on their faces.

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Crowley shook his head at the two ghouls. "What, you really thought that us chasing you across the country was a coincidence?

Grandpa gave him a glare, speaking more to defend his sister than because he'd agreed with her. "Why wouldn't we? We have no dealings with your kind. "

Crowley nodded. "Normally I would agree with you, but it seems we currently have something in common."

At the ghoul's frown, the demon tilted his head towards the bar. "Noticed that old papa Winchester was in town a few years back. From the newspaper article I saw, I'd say he messed up your plans, big time."

The female ghoul growled and lashed out at him, a knife he wasn't surprised she had extending her reach. Crowley mentally slammed her arm down on the table before it made it half way to him, and held it there while he plucked the knife out of her hand. The other ghoul glowered at him, but did nothing.

"I take it that papa Winchester messed up more than just plans."

"He killed our Father." The blonde ghoul spat the words out and jerked back as Crowley let her go. "We've been hiding ever since. Spent years being careful. Even left Windom when the hunter started visiting." Rubbing her sore arm, she glared at him. "He smashed our world and we're done hiding from him.

That bit of news had Crowley looking thoughtful. Somehow, these two were supposed to lead them to the righteous man, so…

"Planning on going after his whelps then?"

"Yes, we'll take his little bastard and the slut that gave birth to him. Then we'll use their forms to destroy him."

Crowley opened his mouth in shock but managed to snap it shut before he could say anything about John Winchester being dead. Besides, he had other things to worry about.

"When you say bastard and slut…"

Grandpa answered this time, a sneer in his voice. "Kate and Adam, mother and son." He picked up a peanut out of the complimentary bowl on the table and cracked open the shell noisily. "The hunter knocked her up and then left town. We didn't know about them until Winchester started visiting his kid a few years ago. "He popped the freed peanut into his mouth and chewed. "We hit the road when that started. Staying here became too dangerous."

Crowley's head was spinning. There was another Winchester, one no one had known about. The possibilities that conjured.

Dangerous possibilities.

Maybe, maybe Dean Winchester wasn't the one and only Righteous Man. After all, John Winchester himself had seemed a likely candidate for that role at one time. He sacrificed for his son, his son sacrificed for his brother. What might this Winchester sacrifice himself for? If the boy had someone he loved more than his own life…

He realised he'd been thinking a little too hard as both ghouls were looking at him uncertainly.

"When did you decide you were coming back here?" His very obscure spell identified them as something that could help them find the Righteous Man. When the two tall morons showed up, it seemed that it had worked. But, if it wasn't tracking Dean, then he needed to know. If the ghouls were just running back to familiar ground after being attacked then this Adam might not have anything to do with the mess.

In fact, please let him not have anything to do with it. The last thing anyone needed was another Winchester out there muddying up the waters.

The two ghouls looked at each other and shrugged.

"We decided a few days ago. Being back here now is just a little sooner than we'd intended."

The demon almost groaned. A few days ago was about when he'd cast his spell. If they'd put off that decision a few more days then maybe his spell wouldn't have picked up on them.

He snorted. Right.

He didn't know what it was, but every now and then, he got the feeling that something was trying to make him its bitch. And no, he wasn't talking about Meg.

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Dean looked out the window for the umpteenth time, checking to make sure that Kate's neighbours hadn't made it home. With any luck, they'd be gone before he'd have to talk with any of them. He paced back to where Castiel was chalking out a sigil on Kate's dinner table and stared at the Angel for a few moments. Cas ignored him and Dean didn't bother trying to talk with him, as distracting him would just make this take longer. Tiring of watching the spell prep, he was stalking back to the window as Sam came in, carrying supplies from the car.

His brother walked over to the angel and handed him the small bowl he was carrying.

"Here, there was still some stuck to the shovels from the last salt and burn."

"Thank you." Cas took the grave dirt, centered a large copper bowl on the sigil he'd just finished and poured the dirt into it.

"Did you have any of the coins?"

"Oh, right." Sam pulled out a couple of old tarnished coins and handed then to Cas. The angel dropped them into the bowl and looked over at Dean.

Dean sighed and joined Cas at his makeshift altar, holding out his arm. He hissed slightly when Cas took his hand and quickly cut him, holding his bleeding appendage over the bowl for several seconds before healing him and letting him go.

"You sure this is going to work?"

Cas nodded as he added herbs and poured a small amount of oil into the bowl. With a thought, he set in on fire. Closing his eyes and breathing in the smoke, using it to ground himself as he sent his mind out to find the ghouls.

"I've found them." His eyes snapped open and he frowned slightly. "They're in a bar." His frown deepened. "Barton's."

That had Dean frowning as well. "I think I've been there…" His eyes widened. "Oh crap. The deputy."

"Ah, what?"

Dean gave Sam a partially amused, partially annoyed look. "The guy who helped dad with the ghouls back in the day." Sam continued to look confused and Dean sighed. "He owns that bar now."

"Oh…" Eyes widening. "Oh, crap."

As one, they turned to talk with Castiel…

To find that the angel was already long gone.

xxxxxxxx

The stink of angel was always hard to miss, even when it was still outside the bar. Either the Winchester's pet celestial was giving them a hand, or this many demons in one area had some of the less than bright angels looking for a fight. Either way, it was time to leave. Crowley knocked back the rest of his drink and stood up from the table.

"I believe that's my cue."

Not surprisingly, his two companions appeared confused.

"Good luck with your Winchester hunt… and all that. Oh, and try to stay away from the other demons in town. They're not as 'nice' as I am." Actually, he'd kill these two now if he thought Meg wouldn't find out about it, but he couldn't risk it.

As he headed out, the bar door opened and a 'man' in a rumpled overcoat came in. Crowley stiffened, but remained hopeful. While he'd only seen him in passing, this was definitely the angel he'd seen with the Winchesters back at Niveus.

Of course, the angel had to go and recognize him as well. From the look on birdbrain's face the only thing stopping him from delivering a Crowley beat down were the human that would be witnesses to the event.

Raising his hands up in mock surrender he moved past the feathered pest, hoping the semi truce he had with the Winchesters would hold. The angel didn't say anything, his glower becoming impossibly more intense for a moment before he obviously dismissed the demon and focused on the ghouls.

Interesting. It appeared that the moose's failed attempt to hide his interest in the happy couple was more than just a coincidence.

Crowley paused at the door to watch as the angel made his way to the bar and order a drink. He was a little surprised that one of the choirboys knew enough about humans to realize that he would look out of place in the bar without one. He watched for another minute, once again struck by a sense of déjà vu when it came to the angel in the trench coat. He might have stayed even longer to puzzle the feeling out, but he was certain that he'd let Meg stew in her own annoyance long enough and if he wanted to keep some semblance of control over his afterlife then he needed to go placate her now.

Besides, she still had his phone.


	45. Chapter 45

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

Author's note: 'The author'…stomp, twist, shuffle…'hates'…mallet, mallet, cut, hockey stick…'editing'...pry, shove, whack.

'Especially this chapter'… threaten with axe… 'stay put damn it or I'll use the hot glue.'

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 45

Castiel watched the two ghouls from his spot at the bar and ruminated about Crowley, what he may have learned and the wisdom of allowing the demon to live. He knew it was in the crossroad demon's best interest not to go telling tales to Meg and he was still useful. However, the angel knew the demon well enough to know that Crowley becoming the King of Hell once more was not a good idea. Not with the opening of purgatory a possibility under his rule. While it might be better to go with the devil they knew, his ambitions would screw them over if left unchecked.

The angel downed the rest of his beer in one go as he silently admitted his own part in the screwing over of things when it came to the original timeline. With a glower aimed squarely at himself, he ordered another drink and settled in to wait for closing time.

He was lifting the second beer to his lips when his cell phone buzzed.

"Where the hell are you?"

"Hello Dean."

"Cas." The hunter's voice was an annoyed growl.

"I'm at the bar." He glanced up at the ghouls. The two of them were having a quiet argument that he listened into with a tilt of his head. From the content, Crowley had spoken with them and made an impression. Enough of one that the male member of the couple was wanting to back off for a few days, while the female felt delaying would cause them more problems.

"You're at Barton's?" Dean's voice pulled his attention back to his phone.

"Yes, I will… deal with the situation."

"We can help."

"It will be simpler and quicker if you do not." He winced after he said that, practically feeling how pissed off he'd just made Dean. "I don't believe the ghouls would recognize you, but it is better to be safe than sorry." Was his poor attempt to mitigate some of Dean's annoyance.

"So what, we're just supposed to sit here with our thumbs up our butts?"

Cas couldn't help but to picture that for a moment, suspecting that it was as awkward and as uncomfortable as it sounded. He gave his head a shake to free it from the image.

"Actually, there is something you can do, but it will be much more dangerous than dealing with the ghouls."

And just that easily, he'd made Dean happy once more.

At least until the hunter found out what needed doing.

XXXXXXXX

Joe Barton gave the bar one more look before turning off the lights, stepping outside and locking up for the night. He'd chased his last customer, a guy in a trench coat, out about an hour ago and he was looking forward to home and bed.

He lived close enough that it made sense to walk to work unless he was transporting supplies and that hadn't been the case this evening. The air was cool and crisp and he breathed it in, appreciating the freshness after the staleness of being indoors all day. He was too tired to have a spring in his step, but he still set off for home at a brisk pace.

Anyone watching the next scene would probably be reminded of a picture of three fish. One small fish that was about to be eaten by a bigger fish, who in turn was about to be eaten by an even larger fish.

A couple stepped out of an alley as Joe passed it, following him. From one breath to the next, a man in a trench coat appeared behind them, silently following.

Now the only question was... Who would bite first?

XXXXXXXX

Joe was maybe a block from the bar when he started to feel uneasy. He glanced nervously behind and he saw a couple, older gentleman, younger female, vaguely familiar, walking arm in arm. They smiled at him, he nodded and they all continued walking. That should have been the end of the uneasy feeling, but by the middle of the next block, he was looking back again. The couple had halved the distance between them and him, but it was the man in the trench coat following them that caught his attention. It was the same man who'd lingered as long as he could after last call. Joe's footsteps slowed and stuttered to a halt as his eyes locked with the other mans. He'd thought the guy intense just ordering a beer, now… now his gaze was so deep Joe felt it like the pull of cold vacuum. The couple standing between them paused and turned to look as well.

And that was when the man in the trench coat pulled out a very, very, very long knife.

XXXXXXXX

A deputy parked behind a stakeout bush pointed his radar gun at a black, 1967 Chevy Impala as it roared past, going over a hundred miles an hour. Before he could drop the gun and start after it a black SUV doing the same drove past. A red Porsche, a yellow Nissan that had seen better days, a Volkswagen that looked like it had just come off a showroom floor and three pickup trucks followed.

"Ookaay." Picking up his mike, he called dispatch. "Yeah, hey look, could you ask the chief if this would this fall under the heading of strange things the Feds are doing that we should stay out of, or should I be calling the state troopers to be on the look out." He described the multiple speeding incidents and waited for a come back.

He wasn't surprised when the chief picked up to answer him. "Were any of the cars an old Impala?"

"Affirmative, the first car that went by was."

"Okay, then that's a ten-four on the Feds being involved. Do not, I repeat, do not go after them. In fact, pack it up for the night and come on into the station."

"Rodger that."

Score one for Kate Milligan insisting on damage control. She'd just saved one man's life that night.

XXXXXXXX

Dean looked up into his rear view mirror, shook his head and put his foot down even harder on the gas. "Just let the demons find you and lead them out of town. They'll think following the ghouls lead them to you so they'll never find out about Adam and Kate. That's great Cas, but it's not going to help if they catch us.

Sitting beside him, holding on for dear life, Sam just grunted in agreement.

XXXXXXXX

It was over before Joe could draw breath to yell a warning. The guy in the trench coat moved so fast it was as if he disappeared in one spot and reappeared in another. Barton watched in shock as the man and woman dropped. Their heads did as well, but they bounced slightly and rolled towards him. He backed away as they came to a stop an inch from the tips of his boots. Looking up, he saw the man in the trench coat staring at him, the bloody knife/almost sword held casually in his right hand.

Barton turned to run, not making even the first step when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Just when he needed it most, all the strength in his legs deserted him. Arms caught him, lowering him to sit on the curb. His breath wheezed as he waited to feel the bite of the blade pass through his neck.

"Even if the distance isn't great, you should consider using a car when you're working this late. It would make you less of a target."

"What?" He choked out, his throat so dry he was lucky the word was understandable.

The guy used the blood-covered knife? Short sword? To point at the two bodies.

"Ghouls. Normally they eat the dead, but now and then they will take fresh if they can get it."

It took Joe a moment for his mind to make sense of that sentence.

"Ghouls…." He looked up at the guy and managed to take in a full breath of air. "You're… you're a hunter?" God, please let him say…

"Yes."

The rest of Joe's body seemed to lose all strength, this time from relief.

The guy touched him on the shoulder again, and then held out a hand to him. Although still wary, Joe took it, allowing the hunter to pull him to his feet. It was a relief to find his legs once again strong enough to stand on.

"So…."

"You may call me Cas."

"Uh… Joe."

They both looked the bodies over.

"You need any help?" Joe asked.

"No, I… have this. You should get home before your wife starts to worry."

Joe stepped back from him. "How'd you know about her?"

"Your wedding announcement and pictures are some of the many articles you keep along the back wall of your bar."

Joe gave a sheepish little laugh. "Right, forgot."

"Also, Dean Winchester mentioned her when I consulted him about the hunt here."

"Dean? Barton blinked at him for the moment it took his brain to remember the young man. "John's son?"

"Yes. He said you helped his father with a ghoul problem some years ago, but your wife didn't know anything about it. When I spoke with you I was to avoid mentioning it if she were there. She wasn't, but I chose to wait to talk with you, as the ghouls were already sitting in your bar."

Joe noticed a return of his breathing difficulties. "They were hunting me."

Cas's expression was somewhat solemn. "Yes. They had a family connection to the one you helped John Winchester stop.

"Revenge?" Joe's voice almost squeaked as he asked.

Cas nodded. "Yes." He noticed the bartender's half worried, half-horrified expression. "I wouldn't be concerned. They were the only two left.

Barton let out a shaky breath and looked over the bodies again. "You're sure you don't need help?"

"I am sure. You should make your way home."

"Right." Joe stared at the bodies for a few more moments before giving him a nod and turned to continue his walk home. He steps weaved slightly, but otherwise he was steady on his feet. Castiel waited until he turned a corner before 'grabbing' the bodies and heads and flying to the closest active volcano to dispose of… most of them.

That done, he checked his phone to see if he'd missed any calls.

XXXXXXXX

Sam and Dean were about half way to Sioux Falls and given the speed they and their convoy were going were lucky that they hadn't caught the attention of the state troopers. Normally Dean might have reacted when Cas popped into existence in the back seat, but his focus on the road was so tight he didn't even blink.

Sam on the other hand gave a startled yelp and banged his head against the car's ceiling.

"I've called you three times." Sam practically yelled at him.

"Yes I know."

"I left four text messages."

"Again, I know."

"They're gaining on us." Dean growled out from the driver's seat. "And if we keep this up much longer Baby's going to throw a rod."

Instead of saying anything, Cas opened the back seat window and tossed a couple of items out it. Dean smiled as he watched the car behind them spin out.

A moment later, he was standing on the breaks himself, only fishtailing slightly as he brought the car to a stop in front of the welcome to Las Vegas sign.

"Uh."

Cas shrugged slightly. "After this, I thought you could use a short vacation."

"Hell yeah."

Sam gave a snort beside him, but even he couldn't complain. Vegas may not be his favourite place, it was better than where they'd just been.

XXXXXXXX

Meg almost had them. Just a few more feet … And she was swerving, her windshield a caved in spider web of cracked glass as something dark and wet impacted against the window at high speed. By the time she'd gotten the vehicle under control, the Winchesters had vanished.

And if that hadn't pissed her off, finding out that what hit her window was the now severely mashed heads of the two ghouls they'd been hunting would.

XXXXXXXX

Crowley watched fascinated as Meg had a complete melt down. He was willing to acknowledge that he'd had a few in his day, but they were often short in duration. Meg on the other hand was closing in on the ten-minute mark. From the way her minions were shifting around, it had gone on long enough that they were no longer scared and were heading into bored.

It just proved that this group really wasn't very bright. But he had to admit, she got their attention back when she dumped holy water over the first one of them to yawn.

He couldn't blame her for her little tirade. They'd lost the Winchesters, who'd staged a drive by shooting, sadly without the Colt. As much as he didn't like being in the line of certain death it would have been worth when Meg took a bullet directly to the forehead. Since it was a normal gun, it didn't kill her, although it did slightly delay her orders to chase after the two hunters. It gave them enough of a head start that they were able to stay ahead until their guardian angel caught up to them.

The heads had been a nice touch. Now Meg had no reason to stay in Windom and the extended Winchester family would remain unknown to her.

To him as well. Even with just the first names, it probably wouldn't take much to track them down in a town as small as Windom, but any interest in them would bring them to Meg's or some other big player's attention. Sure, he could kill them, but it was hard to keep a Winchester dead. Better to pretend that Adam and his mother didn't even exist.

At least for now.

XXXXXXXX

Bobby printed out the alternate scenes to Chuck's novels that ran from Dean selling his soul to Castiel, up to them squaring off against Lilith. With the original novels in hand, he and Rufus sat down and started working through them. Each of them making notes on the differences and any information that might help them.

It was going to be another long haul.

XXXXXXXX

A few hours after leaving the boys at a motel in Vegas, Castiel flew to a restaurant, landing in the bathroom. It was now eight am Wisconsin time and while Sam called earlier to let Kate and Adam know the demons had left Windom and the ghouls were no longer a threat, Kate still needed to get home. She, her son and her son's roommate were in the middle of breakfast at the local IHOP.

Adam noticed the angel first.

"Hey Cas."

"Adam. Mrs. Milligan, Mr. Hayden." He nodded to each of them.

"You want some breakfast?"

"No, thank you. I am not in need of sustenance."

Adam and Kate both winced, while Cooper looked at him uncertainly and Cas quickly corrected himself.

"I mean, I have already eaten, but thank you anyway."

"So, did my brothers come with you or…?"

Cas shook his head. "No, I believe that they are still asleep. The job went quite late last night."

Adam and Kate both nodded. However, going by the expression on Mr. Hayden's face, he'd somehow screwed up simple human conversation once again.

"Hey, I just realized, I don't actually know what your brothers do for a living." Cooper said, thankfully looking to his roommate for the answer.

As far as Adam was concerned, it was too early in the morning for this, but he had at least contemplated someone asking him this question. And his best answer was still…

"They're private detectives and part-time bounty hunters." He pointed at Castiel. "Uh, Cas works with them."

The angel nodded. That part at least was true. "Yes, I do work with them."

"So, last night?"

"Bounty hunt. Someone we've been looking for… For a while now."

Cooper moved over in the booth and indicated the seat next to him. It took Castiel a moment to realize that his continuing to stand over them was probably making the young man uncomfortable. He sat and found himself looking at the Milligans.

"Sam… "Kate took a deep breath. "Sam said you got both of them."

Cas came close to wincing. He'd forgotten how difficult this must have been for them, knowing that something was going to come after them but not knowing when or if any of the precautions they'd taken would work.

"Yes."

You could see every inch of Kate relax. Adam looked like he wanted to as well, but to Cas it was obvious he had further questions.

Cooper's eyes were wide. "These were really bad people I take it."

Adam stabbed viciously at piece of pancake. "Yeah, they were." He stuffed the piece in his mouth and chewed thoughtfully, then looked up at Cas. "And the other guys?"

"If you mean the other… 'agency'?" Cas didn't use the quote fingers, but he wanted to. "They left empty handed."

"Good." Kate finished off the conversation with that one word. Cooper looked from one of them to the other, realizing that there was an entire conversation going that he wasn't taking part in. Not comfortable asking what it was, he turned his attention to his food, not relaxing until Adam's mom changed the subject.

XXXXXXXX

Dean came back to the table from his third trip to the brunch buffet and found Cas sitting next to his brother.

"Hey man. Kate get home okay?"

"Yes." Cas answered the question automatically; most of his attention on the loaded plate Dean was carrying. It was an impressive amount of food, though it was the variety rather than the quantity that amazed him.

"Breakfast?" Dean asked him.

With a slightly disturbed look on his face, Cas shook his head and stood. "No, thank you, I just wanted to let you know that the Milligans are each where they should be."

"Okay man." Dean replied, his mouth already full of scrambled eggs.

Sam grimaced at him. "Nice."

In answer, Dean picked up a cream puff and shoved it into his mouth to join the eggs.

"Ewww."

Cas turned to go, planning to walk to a place where he could disappear unnoticed. He hesitated, remembering something he'd meant to mention to the brothers. It was something he would have told Adam, if it hadn't been for the fact that he still didn't know that Cas and 'Loki' were actually angels.

Despite the dedicated eating, Dean noticed that Castiel wasn't rushing to leave.

"Something up man?"

Cas sat down at the table with them again, getting their full attention.

"Yes, something is…up. Adam's roommate, Cooper Hayden."

Both men straightened in their seats. "He's completely human Cas." Sam told him. "We triple checked. All the tests and a full background check."

"Yes, he's human, but this would not come up in a background check." He glanced from brother to brother. "The names of all the prophets are seared into my mind. Cooper Hayden is one of them."

'Whoa, you mean like that Chuck guy? He's seeing everything that's happening to us?"

Cas shook his head. "No. He is a prophet, or rather a potential prophet. He would not receive the word of God as of yet. If he did, then given who he is living with…"

"You think he'd be writing the gospel of Adam?"

"At least partially. If anything happened to Chuck and Hayden was chosen as the next prophet, then he would continue the Winchester gospel, but I suspect there would be a part of it dedicated to Adam."

Dean frowned at him. "What do you mean, if anything happened to Chuck?"

"There is only one active prophet at a time."

Dean gave him a 'you've got to be kidding me' look. "What, they're like Slayers?"

Cas shook his head, but decided against once again telling Dean that he didn't understand the reference. Besides, he suspected the hunter already knew that.

"Okay, so as long as Chuck doesn't die, then the guy will probably just stay vanilla human, right?"

"It is likely, although prophets by their very nature tend to be more sensitive to the supernatural than an average human."

"So we warn Adam about Cooper and they both stay away from the supernatural."

Sam and Cas gave Dean a look that said they clearly believed he'd lost it.

"With us for relatives?" Sam asked.

Dean tried to come up for an answer to that, finally ignoring the two of them in favour of stuffing a piece of bacon and half a Danish pastry into his mouth when he found he couldn't.

Author's note: Just to remind, Cooper is an OC. Recent cannon information about the prophets slightly altered his role. It was never going to be a large one; I just felt that Adam couldn't have been in a complete vacuum when it came to the apocalypse. Since Cooper's name isn't one of the prophets we see in season eight, then like Chuck, something must have happened to him to in the original timeline.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it, even if his name only ever existed in my own head.

By the way, the stake out bush is a call out to the TV show, Corner Gas.


	46. Chapter 46

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 46

It happened when Anna was walking back to her car at the end of classes. She hadn't even reached student parking when someone on a bicycle flashed by her, grabbing her purse as he passed.

With a little trial and error she'd found that the hex bag worked fine as long as it was close by.

Say, in her purse for example.

The bicycle mugger's pass wasn't a smooth one. The blow and yank from the purse strap spun her around, dropping her to the sidewalk. The angel voices, sudden and loud, had her covering her ears, her voice a counter point to them as she screamed for them to shut up. Someone from behind helped her up and even with the distraction of the voices she was certain she felt him cop a feel. It was enough to shock her quiet, though she might have dismissed it as an accident, except… There was something very wrong with his face. So wrong, she freaked again. She didn't say anything this time, but her wide eyes and shaking body probably screamed her terror.

She took a step back when he smiled at her.

She'd thought Kaseva's face was frightening, with the way shadow always seemed to keep some part of it hidden, but this was much, much worse. Twisted darkness married evil with an ugliness that was beyond anything humanly conceivable and superimposed it over the otherwise pleasant faced young man. The lingering sense of his touch felt greasy and… diseased.

If another student hadn't stepped up just then, she would have started screaming and wouldn't have stopped until the men in white coats came to sedate her and take her away.

The other student's face was completely normal. It was enough to shock her out of what would have been a spectacular mental breakdown in a few more seconds. In those few seconds, he pulled out a cell phone and called campus security. The other guy didn't appear very happy with him, especially as a patrol was already in the area and showed up in less than a minute. She was so relieved to see more people with normal faces that she didn't mind spending the next hour and a half filling out reports before she was able to leave again. One of the men in campus security even walked her to her car. Thankfully, she'd been holding her keys during the attack, so she was able to drive herself home.

She only shook slightly as she sat behind the wheel of the car, fighting the desire to stick her fingers in her ears and sing laa, laaa, laaaaa. She already knew it wouldn't help with the voices. It certainly hadn't the last time.

XXXXXXXX

Cas was visiting the volcano where he'd disposed of ¾ of the ghoul's remains, this time as part of his fallen angel hunt. Idly, he wondered how long he could dilly-dally in the area when angel radio went loud. It took him a few seconds to sort out the jangle of voices to learn that the listener had returned.

A few minutes later, he was pretending to re-search the area where her grace fell to Earth when Anna Milton prayed. Not to God, but to the name he had given her a few weeks ago. Quietly he cursed the fact that he'd allowed his shadow to find him again. Going to her himself wasn't an option.

So, he'd have to find someone else.

XXXXXXXX

Dean was scoping out the bar with a mind towards making a few dollars hustling pool, when he heard the flutter of wings beside him.

"Hey Cas."

He couldn't have told anyone why he knew it was Cas. The possibility of it being another angel was slight, but still very real. However, he was certain that if it hadn't been Cas he would have known.

Okay, that wasn't chick like at all.

He glanced at the angel, who to anyone else would have looked unflappable (heh, unflappable), but to Dean appeared near panicked.

"Guess this isn't a social call."

"On the contrary. I am merely taking a moment to make certain that you and your brother are safe. You are my charges after all."

If Dean's bullshit metre weren't just in his head, then the thing would have been screaming worse than an EMF meter. He'd have called the angel on it, but…

"I left the supplies you asked about in the backseat of your car." Cas' gaze practically stabbed into his brain.

Dean took a deep breath. "Supplies, right, thanks for that."

"Hopefully you will be able to use them right away."

"Gotcha."

In the next blink, the angel was gone.

XXXXXXXX

Sam was coming out of the bathroom when he noticed her sitting in a corner, nursing a beer. Average height, dark, pretty, and familiar. He knew her, he just wasn't sure why. He'd started moving towards her when Dean showed up at his elbow.

"We've got a gig."

"What?"

"Gig, we have one."

Sam allowed Dean to drag him out the door.

"How did we get a gig in the ten minutes or so that I was in the bathroom?"

"About that, you might want to consider cutting back on the fibre. I know it's supposed to help with that sort of thing, but in your case…"

"Dean."

His brother gave him a look, obviously unwilling to answer until they were both in the car. In fact, he backed out of the lot and pulled onto the highway before continuing the conversation.

"Cas stopped by. Left us something in the backseat. Something that needs to be taken care of, and don't say 'what', 'cause I don't know."

"Okay." Sam turned in his seat, reaching into the back of the car to fish around until he located a small black bag. Pulling it into the front seat and opening it, he found three hex bags and a letter addressed to both of them.

"Okay, there's a girl." Sam said, reading the letter.

Dean snorted. "When isn't there."

Sam paused a moment.

"What?"

"Huh, oh, nothing, just thought I saw someone at the bar I knew, but I didn't exactly have the chance to check."

"College maybe?" Dean suggested. "Hell, we might have been to that bar before. They kinda blend after awhile."

Sam shrugged. "Anyway, there's a girl. Her name's Anna. Apparently she's in danger." Sam looked at the paper a little closer. "From both Heaven and Hell."

"Never makes it easy, does he?"

Sam shook his head. "Not really. Anyway, 'Kaseva' gave her a hex bag to keep her safe, but she must have lost it. He wants us to drop these off to her and make sure she's okay. He says he'd have done it himself, but Heaven's got someone shadowing him. He goes to her and he'll lead them right to her."

Dean grimaced. "Not sure that makes us the better choice."

Sam folded the letter and shrugged. "I think both sides still under estimate us."

"Yeah. I'd get tired of it, except I enjoy seeing the looks on their faces when we screw them over."

Sam smiled. Maybe it was petty, but he had to admit to enjoying that as well.

XXXXXXXX

Hiding out at the church wasn't the best idea, but home had been…not good. She'd kept busy for a couple of hours, cancelling her IDs and credit cards, shutting down her phone, that sort of thing. Eventually she had nothing to do and the voices were still there. So she went out, telling her parents she needed to study. Her parents hadn't liked her going out so soon after being robbed, but she gave them the old, 'get back up on the horse' speech and they let her go, though only after making her take her dad's cell phone with her, just in case.

The campus library turned out to be worse than staying home would have.

The students that helped her were there and now there was something terribly wrong with both their faces. After about an hour of them watching her and her trying to not look at them and appear casual about it, she packed up and latched onto a group that was going to meet up for coffee. Her heart sank as the two guys joined in as well. They followed her to her car, asking for a ride. She could see what would happen. They would force her into the car and… One of them smiled at her and that was all it took. She dug down to her core, to all the horror and terror she'd felt since all of this started and just… pushed at them with it.

Getting into her car she drove out of the parking lot, carefully not looking at the two groaning men laying in a pile about twenty feet from where they'd been standing before they went flying. She shook a little, knowing that somehow, she'd done that.

She'd never intended to go for the coffee, and now she couldn't go home.

She needed somewhere else to be. Someplace where she could think and feel safe. And there was really only one place for that. At the next intersection, she turned left, away from home and towards her father's church.

She parked her car in the back and let herself in with her keys. Leaving the lights off, she made her way into the sanctuary. Sitting down in a pew, she couldn't help but to put her hands over her ears, even though it did nothing to block the voices. She wasn't as good at ignoring them, as she was when they'd first started.

That was when she knew the real reason for coming to the church was that this was where Kaseva had helped her. She'd tried praying to him off and on since she'd been robbed, even if the very thought of him made her uncomfortable.

She wasn't dumb. Something that scary gives you help you'd better find out what you've fallen into. She'd looked up his name on-line after he'd given her the bag. At first, she thought it was some kind of joke, because almost every entry was about a Finnish rock band. It took a little more digging to find him, but it didn't make her any more comfortable. She was dealing with something that literally ate souls. The very thought made her shaky and ill and she could only hope that the information she'd found on him was more fantasy than fact.

XXXXXXXX

The two men who came looking for his daughter had Deacon Milton on edge the moment they introduced themselves. She'd spoken of several of her classmates, but he didn't remember her mentioning these two. So, it was with some relief that he was able to tell them that she was out and he didn't know when she'd be back. The shorter of the two gave him a look and then said something, possibly taking the Lord's name in vain, even if it was the first time he'd heard someone do it in what sounded like Latin.

Suddenly polite and more relaxed than when they came to the door, the young men thanked him for his time before returning to their car. Mr. Milton watched as they consulted a sheet of paper before driving off.

Uneasy, he went to the phone and dialled the phone his daughter was carrying.

XXXXXXXX

When the phone went off, Anna jumped so hard she nearly pulled a muscle. A quick glance at the screen showed it was home.

"Um, hello? Dad, oh, um I'm just at the campus library. Going to head out for coffee with some friends, why?" She listened for a moment. "Classmates? Really tall classmates?"

Not good, not good. Panicking she asked him if they'd given their names.

Not the same, but still.

"No, I don't recognise the names, but some of my classes have so many students I haven't even talked to half of them. Did they leave a number? Oh, okay, then can you describe them a little more? One tall, one really tall, 'kay. Really tall has long hair." She looked at her phone. "Beady eyes. Come on dad, you told me the last three guys I went out with had beady eyes. Okay, okay, beady eyes. Doesn't ring any bells, but I'll check around tomorrow. Thanks Dad, I'll be home in a couple of hours."

It didn't sound like the two guys from the library, but maybe there were more of them out there then just them.

Her eyes widened. And they'd been to her house.

Panicking, she looked at the phone, trying to think of what she could say to her parents that would get them to leave the house and go… somewhere, anywhere.

She jumped again. At the front of the church, someone had just given the front door a shake, as if to test the strength of the lock.

XXXXXXXX

"Lights are off."

"Would you want to advertise that you're hiding here?"

Dean gave his brother a look. "You think she's hiding?"

"Don't you?"

Dean gave the building a look and sighed. "Yeah. Can't say why, but yeah, something's telling me something's wrong. "He pulled out a set of lock picks and started to work on the door. "Honestly, thought this would be a simple one. Drop a package off and we're done."

"You didn't really believe that."

"What makes you say that?" Dean asked, his voice sounding a little strange from the position he was holding his tongue in. With a little twist, the doors came open.

"'Cause you wouldn't be you if you did." Together they stepped into the church.

Dean shrugged. "Maybe. Have to admit, very little seems to come easy. Even with Cas fixing a whole load of crap we'll hopefully never see, much less know about."

Sam didn't say anything, just nodded. Together they searched the main level of the church, coming up empty. With a sigh, Dean pointed his flashlight at the stairs. "Youth before beauty."

Sam gave him a mildly disbelieving look and headed up the stairs into the tower.

The attic was being used for storage, although there wasn't much up there. Not surprising, given how difficult it must be to drag things up the stairs. It was also dark, with very little moonlight coming in through the stained glass window that took up one wall of the tower. Looking around, Sam found a light switch and flipped it on, deciding to risk having a passing cop see the light from outside.

"Anna, are you here? A friend sent us."

No answer.

"My name is Sam. This is my brother Dean."

"Sam… Not Sam Winchester?" A high nervous voice asked.

The brothers looked at each other.

"Uh, yeah."

A slight, redheaded woman stepped out in front of the window.

"And you're Dean? The Dean?"

"Whoa, yep. The Dean, I guess."

Sam nearly rolled his eyes. Somehow, in that one line Dean managed an entire conversation of flirting.

"It's really you. Oh, my god." She started walking towards them. "The angels talk about you. You were in Hell, but Castiel pulled you out, and some of them think you can help save us." She hesitated a moment, then looked at Sam "And some of them don't like you at all. "

Sam wasn't surprised, but it didn't mean he was happy about it.

"So, you talk to angels?" Dean asked.

"Oh, no. No, no way. Um, they probably don't even know I exist. At least, I hope they don't. I just kind of... overhear them."

"You overhear them?" Sam asked, surprised.

"Yeah, they talk, and I could, can hear them in my head. Um, someone…. It's hard to explain, but someone gave me something to block them out. It worked too, until I lost it. Got mugged earlier today. Really shouldn't have kept it in my purse.

"That someone wouldn't happen to call himself Kaseva?"

She took a step back. "How…"

"He sent us. Wanted you to have these." Dean held out the bag with the three hex bags in it.

Carefully she stepped forward and took it from him.

"Oh." Both of them could see her body relax as soon as she touched the bag. Opening it, she pulled out one of the hex bags and held onto it tightly. "With the angels talking about you I didn't think…"

Dean shrugged. "We're hunters, we run into a lot of strange things." He thought about it for a moment. "And this isn't even the strangest. Besides, we owed him a favour."

"Or ten." Sam muttered.

XXXXXXXX

Since Anna was obviously shaky, Dean offered to drive her home in her car, while Sam followed in the Impala. He firmly ignored Sam's eye rolling. Even so, he kept the flirting to a minimum. Well, a minimum for him.

Anna, for her part, accepted the flirting good naturedly, but didn't take it seriously. Still, as Dean pulled her car into her parent's driveway, it was with an impish smile that she asked him if he'd like to come in and meet the 'rents.

"Uh, meeting parents, not really our thing. Besides, we chatted earlier."

They got out of the car and Anna looked over the top of it at Dean.

"How did you know where to find me, anyway?"

"Cas… er, Kaseva. When he asked us to play post office he said to try here and the church." Well, the note he'd left with the hex bags had said that.

Anna shook her head. "I can't believe I have some sort of pagan god looking out for me. It just seems wrong for some reason."

"You don't know the half of it sister."

Sam pulled the Impala up in front of the house and Dean gave him a wave to let him know that he'd seen him. Sam gave him a look he could easily read as 'be a gentleman and walk her to the door you dufus."

This time it was Dean's turn to roll his eyes. Still, he didn't disagree. Coming around the car to stand beside Anna he looked up at the house.

And almost forgot how to breathe.

When Sam asked him about it later, Dean told him he was just visually checking the house over to see if it was safe. So the rolling wave of hate and ugliness that came from the Anna's home took him completely by surprise. Amazingly, in the six seconds it took him to reboot his mind, Sam realized something was up and jogged up the lawn to stand with them.

"Dean?"

"Something is very wrong in that house Sammy."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, I mean, whatever I just felt, it was only for a moment, but I don't think that means it isn't still there."

The younger Winchester noticed Anna drop the sack of hex bags and take a step forward, looking the house over with a hard gaze. She took in a surprised breath and backed up a step. Then before they could stop her, she was sprinting for the front door.

"Mom, Dad."

"Aw, crap." Dean said, scooping up the hex bags as he and Sam dashed off after her. She made it into the house before they could reach her.

"No!"

Piling in the door after her, they saw two college-aged men holding Anna's parents in some very uncomfortable positions.

"See, told you we'd find her if we just talked with the parents." One of them said with a sickening smile, before he noticed who had come in the door behind her.

"Oh shit, Winchesters."

The two demons didn't even bother to look at each other. As one they opened their mouths, smoke pouring out of the bodies they were possessing. The two young men dropped to the floor, moaning and retching. Freed from their grasp, the Miltons staggered away from them, falling into their daughter's arms. All three of them ending up on the floor, gasping for breath and crying.

As the only two left standing, Sam and Dean looked at each other, both slumping as they realized their simple delivery had just gotten much more complicated.

Author's note: Yes, Dean just pulled off a detect evil.


	47. Chapter 47

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

Author's note: I rearanged some of my scene breaks. July 13th, 2013.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 47

Castiel tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. Yes, if you squinted just a little, it did look as if the image of God was on that flatbread.

Of course, if you looked at it from a slightly different position, it appeared to be a duck.

Shaking his head, he carefully moved through the faithful that had gathered in this small house to see a possible miracle. It wasn't that he didn't believe that God moved in mysterious ways, it was just that appearing on food seemed more like something…

"Hey bro."

…Gabriel would do.

"Gabriel." He looked back at the house he'd just come from, but Gabriel put his hands up in a stopping motion before Castiel could say anything.

"No, before you ask, no, I didn't do that. Anyway, I hear from Adam that the ghouls…" He glanced up, frowning. "Damn, gotta go, you're about to reacquire your shadow." With a blink, he was gone.

Cas sighed. He really needed to do something about the angel that was following him. In fact, when he thought about the amount of time he was wasting looking for someone he never intended to find, he suspected he knew what he really needed to do.

xxxxxxxx

Dean went out to the Impala and got anti-possession amulets for everyone while Sam called an ambulance. In the case of the two college kids he wasn't sure the charms would help, 'cause they were out of it and the hospital would probably just take them off while they were being treated.

Maybe they could try telling the EMT guys to leave the pendants alone because of the wearer's religious beliefs. It might not work, but it was worth a try.

A few hours later, Dean was sitting in the emergency waiting room while Sam prowled the halls as discretely as a 6' 4" attractive man could. They'd have preferred to move the Miltons somewhere safer than a hospital, but Anna's parents were injured enough to need a doctor. From the way Mrs. Milton was cradling her hand she had broken fingers and one of the demons had dislocated Mr. Milton's shoulder shortly before they got there. Add in shock and a number of cuts on both parents and he knew there was no way Anna would allow them to be taken anywhere but the hospital. All he could do was keep watch and hope they hurried it up, because as badass as he knew he was, he was pretty damn sure at least part of the reason the two demons smoked out was to report their and Anna's location.

Would have been cool if dealing with them was always that easy though.

Anna accompanied her mother into the emergency ward, so Dean was keeping one eye out for her return. He was also keeping an eye out for the cops. Their explanation for everyone's injuries was decidedly 'hinky' and he could tell the two Paramedics didn't buy a word of it. He doubted it was going over any better with the nurses and doctors. The only reason the cops weren't already here was that Dean had enough foresight to fish his and Sam's Federal Marshall badges out of the Impala's glove compartment before walking into Emergency. It was also why Sam was being tolerated as he paced the area around the admitting desk. Well, that and the dimples.

Anna came out of emergency looking pale but together and Dean happily gave up the crappy plastic seat of torture he'd been sitting in. Sam was already talking with her as he walked up.

"They say they'll be alright, but they're talking about keeping them over night, just in case."

Dean nearly growled. They didn't have time for that.

Anna smiled. "It's okay, Dad already said no. They should be ready to leave in a few minutes."

From the corner of his eye, Dean noticed as two police officers walked into Emergency.

"See if you can't hurry them up." Sam spoke quietly, having also seen them. With a nod, she headed back into the emergency ward.

As one, the brothers turned to the cops.

"Officers."

"Winchesters."

Dean didn't even get a chance to say 'oh crap'. The two brothers were power slammed up against the walls. Dean shoved back mentally, trying to recreate whatever it was he'd done to screw up Azazel's power when the demon had possessed his grandfather, but all he was managing was embarrassing facial expressions.

Another two cops came in, eyes black and smiles similar to the first two. At the desk, the nurse finally realized that, law enforcement or not, something was really wrong with these guys. She reached for a security alert button. One of the demons shot her before she could press it.

"Son of a bitch." With a crack, Dean dropped to the ground in a crouch as the force holding him broke. He pulled the big time magic knife out of its sheath. Four to one odds were bad, but doable.

Then another two cops came in and smiled.

xxxxxxxx

In the fight that had followed he managed to take out one of the demons, but things were getting out of hand. The bastards obviously didn't care who saw them and there were too many innocent bystanders around for them to have fun killing.

Then a paediatrician came in. Not surprising in a hospital, except for the fact that the guy's eyes were completely white, something they hadn't seen since Lilith.

"Ah, Dean Winchester, how nice to finally meet you."

Dean didn't get to say anything back, because that was when the Miltons walked out of Emergency and into the admitting area.

One of the black-eyed bastards flanking old white eyes made a move towards Mrs. Milton. She promptly screamed and somehow the demon went flying, crashing through the glass doors that led in from the ambulance bay. Dean would have glanced at Sam, to see if he'd somehow done it, but one look at the expression of pissed off triumph on Anna's face told him where that bit of power came from. It seemed that her abilities went beyond being able to hear angels.

Security showed up then, but it turned out they would be even less help than they'd normally be in this type of situation.

"Did someone hold a possession convention in town?"

Still stuck to the wall, Sam gave a pained choke of a laugh. Dean reached up, grabbed him by the arm and somehow, he still wasn't sure how he was doing it, broke the magic holding him there. Sam landed in the best fighting stance he could manage at the moment.

The doctor demon frowned at him. "Well, that's an interesting ability. I'd expect it of the angel or your brother, but you're nothing special."

Dean frowned back at him and gave half a though to the fact that when the demon mentioned an angel, he'd waved his hand towards Anna. It was odd enough to notice, but he didn't have time to dwell on it. With Sam back in play, he thought they might have a chance, white-eyed demon or not, until a look down one of the hallways showed it full of patients. All of them waking towards them, and all of them with black eyes.

To be honest, Dean didn't like to do this, but there came a time when too much was too much.

"CAS!"

xxxxxxxx

Castiel was standing on the shore of a lake, looking up at Mount Fuji from the same place he'd brought Kate Milligan to, to prove to her the existence of the supernatural, when he heard Dean's desperate call. Half cry for help, half prayer, it hit him with a jolt and he reacted without thinking about it. He shifted neither his looks, nor his wards, appearing to everyone as an angel of the Lord.

As far as he knew, Dean and Sam were successful delivering the hex bags to Anna. Angel radio had noted the listener's absence hours ago, so he didn't expect to find her with them.

He did expect the demons, or something like them, but even he wasn't prepared for this many.

And he hadn't been expecting Alistair at all.

"Castiel?"

Cas turned to the speaker and came close to swearing as he saw Anna, standing in front of her parents. Her eyes were wide and she started to sway, as if she were about to pass out. The flood of demons hesitated for a moment, obviously recognizing him for what he was, before surging forward.

"You have found her, brother."

Everything stopped, or at least all the demons except Alistair did. Dean waved a hand in front of one of the black-eyed demon's faces, eyebrows rising when he got no reaction, impressed with the trick in spite of himself. Then he looked at the other angel who had just arrived, recognizing her from his trip to the past.

"Uh, Cas, what's she doing here?" Dean asked as he kept an eye on the unfrozen white-eyed demon. "Not that we don't appreciate the extra help, but…"

Anna turned to the new comer. "Rachel…." She clutched at her head and her father caught her as her knees buckled.

Castiel considered finding the nearest tall structure to thump his head against. Of course the angel shadowing him was Rachel. If anything trying to fix time showed him, it was that it wanted to be broken.

Not this time. He would not allow it.

In the space of a breath, he power tossed Alistair through the already broken glass doors, and then he gathered up Sam, Dean, Anna and her parents and sent them to a safe house, staying behind a moment.

"Castiel?"

"Do not follow Rachael. I would not like to have to kill you again."

She stared at the spot he had been, very confused.

xxxxxxxx

Anna was close to hyperventilating, but couldn't seem to do anything about it. It was too much. All of it in her head, all at once. Her brief human life struggling against the near forever of being an angel. Pulling away from her father, she sank to her knees, her head in her hands.

"I remember, I remember, I…"

"Hey kid, you okay?" Dean reached out to help her, her father glaring at him for his troubles. Hands up, he backed away, running into Cas with a thump.

"I'd hoped this wouldn't happen."

With a gasp, Anna looked up at him, her used to be's and now's falling sharply into place. She attempted to stand, wanting to appear strong, but ended up needing her father's help to struggle to her feet.

"Castiel… Please…. I" She glanced back at her father and mother. "Please, I know what you have to do, but please, not… not in front of…"

Cas sighed. "I do not expect you to believe this yet, but it is good to see you Sister."

"Cas?" Dean asked.

The angel smiled at him. "I suspect I may have just burned my bridges."

xxxxxxxx

Anna sat on the leather couch, trying to process the fact that an Angel of the Lord, who should be trying to kill her, had instead invited her and her parents to sit and asked if they would like some refreshments. In her most surreal human dreams, she'd never have come up with something like this.

Her parents declined the offer of food and drink, sitting down on the couch with her to await an explanation. In a couple more minutes, she suspected her dad would kinda explode. He was a very patient man, but he'd passed his point at least one demon attack ago.

"Hey, this is the cabin in Colorado."

She blinked, looking up at Dean, who in turn was looking around the cabin.

"Yes, it is."

"I thought you said you were having some problems with the neighbours."

"Yes, but as long as we don't go outside they won't know we're here." Castiel waved a hand towards the windows and Anna realized they were all blacked out. "And even if they do realize it, they can't get in."

"Okay, but why risk it?"

Cas made his own survey of the room. "This place is better warded than all of my other safe houses, and given the interference supernatural beings experience in the area, it is unlikely that Rachael or any other angel would be able to track us here."

That was when her father stood up.

"Angels."

"Dad!"

Rich Milton looked back at his daughter.

"Castiel is an angel of the Lord. So is Rachel, the blonde woman at the hospital."

"Anna…"

"You have another way to explain how you got from there to here in a blink of an eye."

"And the people who attacked us in our home and at the hospital?"

Dean answered that one.

"Those would be demons."

Anna's mother gave a nervous laugh. "Demons?"

"Yep. Well, okay, they were possessed by demons. The demons themselves was all of the black smoke that came out of their meat… uh, out of the mouths of the people they were possessing."

"This is insane."

Castiel gave Deacon Milton a searching look. "You are a man of faith, so have some in your daughter. She would not lie about this, nor is she crazy, as you both well should know from the evidence of your own eyes."

Mr. Milton sat back down. "That doesn't make me very confident in the state of my own sanity."

"You're not insane." The two elder Miltons looked at the very tall young man who until then had stayed out of the conversation.

Dean snorted. "Yeah, but that could change."

xxxxxxxx

The Miltons didn't look very happy when their daughter moved off to speak quietly with the man in the trench coat. Dean and Sam stood between the two parties, like some kind of buffer zone between the humans and the angels.

"Castiel… what… what?"

"What am I going to do?"

She nodded.

"That largely rests upon your choices."

She paced, glaring at him. "There aren't any choices. I'm fallen. Your only options are to kill me, or return me to Heaven for punishment."

"Or, I tell everyone you had been slain, then set you and your family up in new lives and make sure you are protected from both angels and demons."

Anna's mouth hung open in shook. "Wha…"

Cas heard Dean laugh.

"I think you broke her."

"Yes. However, it is hardly surprising. She had good reason to expect me to kill her."

Mr. Milton was on his feet and half way to Cas when Sam and Dean moved to block him. Fists clenched, he glared at Castiel over the two men's shoulders.

"Dad."

He gave his daughter a quick glance, then focused back on the man in the trench coat.

"Dad." This time he gave her his full attention. "There's some things you and Mom need to know."

He could tell by the sadness in her eyes that they would get the truth… and they wouldn't like it one bit.

It took Anna a few deep breaths before she could start.

"Mom, you remember, how you couldn't get pregnant? How you always called me your little miracle?"

Her mom nodded.

"You don't know how right you were."

"Anna, baby."

"I'm sorry mom." Anna turned away from her mother and found something to stare at as she continued to speak.

"I'm an angel. I disobeyed, and I fell."

"Meaning?" Dean asked.

"She fell to Earth. Became human." Castiel explained.

Anna gave the other angel a quick look, before focusing elsewhere again. "Yeah."

Rich Milton stepped up and slid his arm around his wife's shoulders. "You expect me to believe that my daughter is a fallen angel?"

"I hacked out my grace, Dad." She gave him a wavering smile. "Kinda hurt. Sort of like trying to cut your kidney out with a butter knife."

"NO!" Mr. Milton gripped his wife tighter, but it was obvious that she was about to lose it, big time."

Anna turned to Cas, tears in her eyes. "Castiel, please."

He nodded, and with a blink, he was in front of the Miltons, two fingers at each of their foreheads. With another blink, he carefully settled their two unconscious bodies onto the sofa.

"How much do you want me to erase?"

Tears were flowing freely down her face now.

"All of it."

"Hey, whoa, whoa." Sam stepped up, his hands in a stop position. "When you say all of it…"

"Like I was never born."

Cas frowned. True, he had done something similar in the other timeline for Dean, with Lisa and Ben, but it had left him feeling uneasy. It did let her and her son continue on with their lives without the trauma of being kidnapped, possessed and stabbed, with young Ben having to be the one to shoot the demons while Dean carried the boy's bleeding and dieing mother to safety. Still, this wasn't just removing a couple of year's worth of memories.

"No."

He'd startled her.

"Your existence has shaped theirs for too long. The damage it could cause is frightening. If you no longer wish them to worry for you, then it would be better to have them believe you are dead. It would also give me a reason to move them to another country. A new start, after the loss of their beloved daughter."

She paced away from him, obviously angry. "You know, I could just go and find my grace, and do it myself."

"If that is what you wish, then here."

Reaching into his coat, Castiel pulled out the crystal pendant. At the centre of it, bight light and colour swirled, brighter than it had been in all the time he'd carried it.

Swallowing, Anna backed away from that small, but very powerful part of herself.

"How?"

"Things are more complicated than you know." Cas said, sitting as he did. The other's followed suit, Anna on the couch with her sleeping parents, Dean on the coffee table/ottoman and Sam in the other leather chair, next to Cas.

"As you know, Dean was meant to break the first seal." Dean's face twisted up into a pissed off expression at Cas' words. "I was able to get to him in time to prevent that."

"Yes. That was the first time I could hear everyone again, when you said, 'Dean Winchester is Saved.'

Dean half coughed, half snickered, remembering where Cas had saved him from.

Ignoring him, Castiel continued. "Lilith was the last seal, but Sam managed to kill her before Dean's deal came due, more or less frying the lock. However, something like that cannot remain broken, so the last seal has been reforming, needing only something powerful to tie it to, to reset the lock."

Dean gave Cas a look. "And you couldn't have mentioned this before now?"

Cas shrugged. "I had hoped that nothing that strong could be found, until Zachariah handed me a vial of grace, and sent me searching for its owner."

Anna's mouth dropped open. "I'm the last seal?"

"I believe so, yes."

Quietly, Dean stood up, walked over to the small bar Cas kept in the cabin and poured a stiff drink. Instead of downing it himself, he walked back to Anna and placed it in her hands. She sank it if it were water.

"I had found you some time ago, long before Zachariah sent me searching for you."

"Then why didn't you…?"

"You may have been fallen, but you were a friend and I thought to keep you safe. I had hoped you would live out your life as you wished, never knowing what you were. Eventually you would have died a natural death and your soul would have travelled to Heaven, where it would surely go unnoticed among the multitude."

"Castiel… They'll hunt you now. Unless…" Her expression was one of worry.

"No, I did not kill Rachael after I sent you here. I always knew the time would come when I would have to go against my superior's orders. Now is as good a time as any."

Dean snorted. "Accept it Cas, any longer and you were going to gank some of them."

"True."

Anna's head was spinning from the information overload.

"You should rest for a time." Cas told her, noticing the lost expression on her face. "Sleep and think about what you would do. There is no need to rush into anything." He gave her parents a glance. "And perhaps, give them a chance to rest and understand as well.

She shook her head. "Castiel…"

Whatever she was going to say, she didn't get to, as the other angel continued as if she hadn't spoken. "But I think I'll move you and your parents to another safe house. This one should only be used temporarily. Would you prefer New York, or California?"

"Uh…"

"New York." Dean suggested. "Crowley's been to the California house."

"But…"

Whatever argument she was going to make, was lost in the moment of transition.


	48. Chapter 48

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

Author's note: Side step over to Henricksen for a chapter. Trying to tie up some of his loose ends.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 48

Henricksen dropped a bag of burgers onto the coffee table in front of his partner, grabbed the plushy ergonomic rolling chair from the desk and sat down across from her. The rooms the bureau sprang for were nice, each having a couch and a wall desk, but neither of them a dining table. So instead, they ate with their files spread out over half the small sofa and the coffee table.

Victor bit into his burger and wisely decided against reviewing the autopsy file, setting it aside. In its place, he picked up the reports from the first response officers. Dry stuff, but better for his digestion. Rae was picking at a side salad while she read over the non-arrest file of Tyson Brady. With a grimace, she dropped the file onto the table, then picked up her soda and gave it a healthy slurp.

"Guy managed to skate on everything. And this list alone makes me wonder what he got away with that never saw the light of day."

Victor picked up the discarded file and flipped through it. Rape, assault, insider trading. All the things he expected to find when looking into the lifestyles of the rich and demonic. Apparently even the smart ones, and he had no doubt that Brady had been a smart demon, but apparently even they couldn't control themselves enough to not get caught. Not that it mattered, as the long list of missing evidence and witnesses could attest.

He focused on the insider trading for a moment. It was almost an anomaly, being a somewhat discrete pastime for a demon.

With a mental grunt he shifted demonic and demon to psychotic and psycho in his head. When it came to the supernatural, he needed to pretend that he knew nothing.

With that in mind, he took a closer look at the insider trading charges.

"Hmmm."

Urquhart had just bitten into her burger, so her 'what' came out a little garbled.

"Just wondering if the White Collar division ever took a look at this guy."

"I'll check."

Henricksen nodded and continued his meal.

"Hey." Urquhart asked. "Can I ask you something?"

Victor shrugged. "Guess so."

"I heard you were a hard ass…" She held up her hands, as if she expected him to disagree. "Not my words, you understand, but that's what I heard."

"You wouldn't be wrong, though I do try to not be one with my partners."

"Not what your last one said."

Victor snorted. "Not sure how he noticed. Man spent most of his time being an all around ass. Even I couldn't dedicate that much of my life to being a hard one."

Rae spluttered into her soda.

He smiled at the reaction, but the humour was strained. He understood the question, maybe even better than she did. The truth was that for years now he couldn't help but get up in someone's face. It wasn't so bad when that someone was the perp he was after, but he'd had more than one complaint filed against him by other law enforcement and the lawyers that represented the people he arrested.

Worst of all was the way things had gone with the Winchesters. He knew he'd let his anger blind him to what was really going on. Sure, he didn't know about the supernatural at the time, but looking at the old case files again it was obvious they couldn't have pulled half the crimes he ascribed to them. His last partner, Reidy, probably knew it, but still backed Victor up, no doubt figuring they would sort out the mess that was the Winchesters after they caught them.

He missed Reidy.

He meant it when he said partners were a different matter. He made the effort there, and it didn't hurt they were working towards the same goal. On a more mercenary note, you didn't want the person who had your back to hesitate when you were in trouble.

He and Reidy worked well together. They both understood the other's bullshit, and didn't let it bother them. For losing that alone, he would happily take down a few demons.

Being possessed had turned his world upside down and shown him how wrong he could be about things. Since then, it was as if he'd forgotten how to be angry at the little things. And he had to face it, from the time he got up to the time he went to bed, hell, screw that, even when he was asleep, he never stopped being angry. Another year or two he'd have burned out or been buried under the avalanche of the disciplinary action looming in his future.

Until recently, he didn't realize how much of the anger was the job. Not until after he started hunting. The nitty, picky, screwed up things that never let you catch the bad guy ate at him all the time. Hunting…

Hunting was different.

More dangerous in its way, but you found the thing and you made sure it couldn't kill again.

Simple.

Okay, maybe not that simple, but it was still better than paperwork, filled out in triplicate.

XXXXXXXX

Henricksen shuffled the coroner's report a little further off to the side, still not ready to look at it. "So, you think there's anything more to find here?" Sure, keeping the search in Bakersfield would keep it away from a certain salvage yard in South Dakota that he knew nothing about (nope, not a thing), but he couldn't see how anyone would believe this was anything other than a dumpsite.

"You think they carted the body to a completely different city, just to dump it?"

Aw, crap, him and his big mouth. If his partner was thinking that the killing took place in Bakersfield, or even in the state, then that was not something he wanted to have her rethinking.

"Think about it," His partner said, apparently not noticing Victor's slight wince. "After they grabbed him from Niveus they obviously took him somewhere to torture and kill him. Why not Bakersfield? It's not that far away from Niveus' headquarters."

Because South Dakota was faster when you travelled by angel. He shook the thought off and decided to play devil's advocate. He would have done it on any other investigation.

"It's got to be easier transporting a dead body than a live hostage. 'Course, either way they could have just stuffed him in a trunk."

Rae shook her head. "Coroner believes the body spent most of it's time laid out flat. Wrapped in a tarp and rope, but still flat on its back. To move the body that way they would need a van or a station wagon and they wouldn't want to drag it around for a couple of days before getting rid of it.

Victor shrugged. "Could have been a hearse or ambulance. A dead body in one of those wouldn't be much of a surprise."

She nodded. "Yeah, but those vehicles would have stood out where they dumped the body. An enclosed van is more likely. Industrial area like that, there's probably a few hundred a day in and out of there."

Victor agreed. From the traffic cam report he noticed the number of vans heading in the general direction of the body drop were headache inducing. The Bakersfield police had done searches on them, but nothing pinged. The agent doubted that either Bobby or anyone he knew would be stupid enough to list a vehicle under their own name. The van was probably registered to a little old lady from Pasadena who, if anyone bothered to check past that, would turn out to be non-existent.

With a sigh, Henricksen picked up the coroner's report and started paging through it.

Brody had been, as Rae pointed out, dead two days before being found and the body lay in the place it was dumped for several hours. The coroner tested the clothing and found salt, sulphur, motor oil and a chemical compound that turned out to be Febreeze. The body probably got a little ripe during transport, although if it had been him he would not have unwrapped it just to air freshen it.

Maybe they'd sprayed him down before wrapping him. He could see Bobby or Dean thinking to do that.

Victor continued reading the report and didn't like it. The coroner believed the victim, or at least his body, may have been held in a garage for a time. Duh. The salt was rock salt, something usually used to salt roads in wintertime (South Dakota in this case) and wasn't something that was used much in California, except maybe in the more northern part of the state. The sulphur appeared to be natural, a fact he found rather disturbing. According to the report, it could have come from a number of places in the state, as the testing was inconclusive. Thankfully, the motor oil could be bought in every discount store, auto shop and self serve gas station in the country.

The rock salt was the biggest problem. He looked up at his partner to see her frowning at a page of a report he hadn't seen.

"Did you know that you can get rock salt and sulphur from a salt dome?"

"A what?"

"A salt dome. It's a geological … uh, doesn't matter. Anyway, you can mine both minerals from them." She gave him an amused look. "Think they might have dragged the body all the way from Texas or Louisiana, because that's where most of them are."

Victor had to give that a snort. "Nah, I don't buy it."

She dropped the sheet of paper onto the coffee table. "Yeah, me either. So…"

"So, we'll go over these reports backwards and forwards and tomorrow we'll check out the dump site."

She nodded and picked up one of the police reports.

XXXXXXXX

One industrial area tends to look like another. Corrugated steel buildings, lots of dirt and the occasional attempt at landscaping with a patch of grass and some not so artfully arranged rocks.

After this long there wasn't anything to see and a re-canvas of the area got them even less information than the police originally gathered, and that was pretty much bupkis.

After a fruitless day, both of them were ready to pack it in, when Henricksen's phone started to play a country tune.

Urquheart watched amused, as the man who'd dragged himself through the day suddenly came alive as he chatted with someone named Joe… She listened a little longer and changed that to Jo.

"You're in Bakersfield for a job?"

Rae almost chortled at the expression on her partner's face. He looked like nothing less than a schoolboy who desperately wanted the bell to ring so he'd be free to go off and get into trouble.

"Go, have dinner with her, or whatever."

"Uh, what?" Victor said, as he tried to split his concentration between the phone and her.

"Just drop me off at the hotel first."

XXXXXXXX

Urquheart rolled her shoulders, working out the kinks as she returned to her hotel room. She planned on doing nothing more strenuous than room service. Sitting down on the bed, she flopped onto her back, staring up at the ceiling.

"Not the most comfortable mattress we've ever shared."

She cast a gimlet-eye at the man suddenly lying beside her. He smirked back and took a bite of the candy bar he was holding.

"Don't get chocolate on the sheets." She said, sitting up. As she did, her hair shifted, becoming longer and blonder than it had a moment ago. A pair of glasses appeared on her face and she adjusted them slightly before fixing her glare on the pagan god lounging beside her.

"I seem to remember you liking it when I got choc… oof." He curled up as her fist bounced off his stomach. Wincing, he sat up, rubbing at the injury as if it actually hurt him.

'Urquheart' shook her hand out and checked to make sure she hadn't broken any fingernails. For a trickster, he had one thick hide on him.

"You should know better than to remind me of things like that. Besides, I thought I heard you and Kali have made up."

Loki's smirk turned into a grimace. "No such luck. We've hung out. Handled a couple of problems together, but she's actually dating Balder." He rolled his eyes as he said the other god's name.

She winced in sympathy. Not that she usually had much for Loki. Whatever trouble he got himself in he usually deserved. However, a couple of centuries ago one of her sisters set her up with Balder. He may look a tasty treat, but Loki losing out to him was like turning down a decadent dessert to eat a meal of dry crackers and water.

Loki pulled another chocolate bar out of thin air and bit into it. "Well, was I right?"

She sighed, glad for the change of subject. "Yes, you were. There were three demon possessed people in his department alone and none of them were slated for the loss of freedom or the death that usually follows such an event."

"You cleaned house?"

She nodded. "Nobody's possessed who shouldn't be."

Loki chewed a moment while he wrapped his brain about that. "So, there may be a few of them still kicking around?"

Now she smirked at him. "Maybe."

"Hmm."

"Why do you care anyway? I admit, Henricksen is interesting…" And he was, for a human. There was something off about him to her senses, almost as if he were where he was supposed to be while at the same time, he shouldn't be there at all. At first she thought time travel was causing the dissonance, but she usually knew when things like that happened. The only one who could have hidden a change in the timeline from her senses like that would have been… well, the being who'd given her and her sisters their jobs to begin with.

Loki shrugged in answer to her question. "Just one of my usual lessons. Our dear FBI agent needs to figure out that he's got something more important to do."

"That why you have him tap-dancing around this case?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Couple more like this and he'll realize he can't be both a hunter and an FBI agent. And a hunter is what he really is."

Frowning, the woman in front of him nodded. "Yes, maybe that's what I'm feeling. That his time with the FBI is over." The frown deepened. "Doesn't quite explain that many demons being interested in him."

Loki snorted. "They're just not that bright. Their apocalypse got derailed and they think they can start it again by finding a replacement Righteous Man. From what I've heard through the grapevine, Henricksen isn't the only candidate they have staked out"

The look she gave him was appalled. "Are they out of their sulphur medicated little minds? Dean Winchester is the Righteous Man. Despite whatever wishful thinking they're indulging in, there are no other candidates for the job. Not this millennia anyway."

Loki choked on his candy. "You're sure about that?"

The glare she gave him could have punched a hole through steel plating. "You're asking me if I'm sure about a man's destiny?"

A small white flag appeared in Loki's hand and he waved in in surrender. "No of course not. I would never ask you something like that."

"Good."

The flag disappeared with a small pop.

"So, about Henricksen, you willing to dog his steps until he learns his lesson?"

She made an annoyed sound and pointed a finger at him. "I do and you never mention that weekend in Gomorrah again."

Loki pouted. "Fine." Then he smiled. "There's still the trip to Cancun. You know, the one with the pictures."

She glared at him. "You mean the pictures I could send to Kali?"

He slumped. "You're no fun at all." He sighed. "Fine, I'll throw in Cancun as well.

"Okay then." She made a shooing motion with her hands. "Goodnight Loki."

He gave her one more smirk.

"Goodnight Atropos."


	49. Chapter 49

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 49

Rachel stood at attention in front of Zachariah's desk. To be honest, neither of them actually had bodies and there was no furniture, but the best human analogue for the meeting was a plush corner office, where Zachariah lounged behind a power desk.

"He protected the abomination and said he'd kill you if you followed?"

The angel opened her mouth to correct her superior, then snapped it shut and nodded. She didn't know why she was… not lying exactly, but leaving out some information. Perhaps, because she didn't understand what had happened herself. Why would he say 'again?'

She set the thought aside. It would only confuse her and Zachariah would be quick to notice. "I will start searching for him immediately."

"No." Zachariah attempted a kindly, fatherly expression. Instead, it just came off smarmy and superior. "Return to your normal duties. Castiel and the abomination will be dealt with by… others."

Rachel bowed her head and took her leave. A rustle of movement behind Zachariah had him turning to look at his… well, she wasn't exactly a superior, but as she answered only to the archangels, she wasn't exactly a contemporary.

Whatever she was, she always felt like a threat. He was just never sure if the danger was to his position or his very existence.

"My people will deal with this problem." He told her. "Castiel will be found, questioned and re-educated." Who knew what the angel had spilled to the humans, if he was going around saving fallen angels.

"No," the woman told him. "He's our problem. Personally, I thought the last time we had him wiped we should have terminated him. There's always been something wrong with him. Perhaps this time, Michael will agree."

Zachariah fought off a shudder. Naomi always had been a cold bitch. While he took great pride and even enjoyment in re-educating straying angels back to the straight and narrow, Naomi's methods… This time he did shudder. Thankfully, he'd never had a session with her. Still, from what he heard, he thought he'd one day find that Alistair was getting torture tips from her. The angels she brought back in line tended to creep him out, as if something more than just emotions were missing from them.

Come to think of it, Castiel was much like that the last century or two. He should have known he'd been through Naomi's grind wheel. It wasn't until the Winchesters came along that he'd loosened up.

"Have your people focus on finding the abomination. I'll deal with Castiel." She smiled a very small smile. "And perhaps the Winchesters as well."

XXXXXXXX

Anna paced back and forth in the New York loft (Dean suggested it, as the California home once played temporary prison to a still active Cross Roads Demon). Castiel delivered her there, informing her before he left that her that her parents were asleep in the master bedroom and would awaken in an hour.

She glanced down at the vial of grace in her hand. She had until then to decide to become an angel once more and erase their memories of her, or stay human and…

And what?

"You would think that with all that millennia of knowledge, angels could learn to stop thinking in absolutes."

She spun around, to find a man with a joker's grin on his face, smiling at her.

"Think about it toots. It doesn't always have to be all or nothing."

"Who are you?" Even as she asked it, she thought she ought to know.

"Name's Loki."

She frowned, something telling her that that wasn't… well it wasn't wrong, but it wasn't right either.

"Looking for Cas, you seen him?"

"Why?"

The man sighed. "Nobody trusts anybody anymore." He gave her a smirk. "Probably a good thing, for now anyway." His smile widened at her annoyed look and he chuckled.

"Cas is a friend. One I pass on interesting bits of information to. Heard something recently that he needs to know."

Normally, finding the little angle was a snap, for him anyway. However, since pulling Anna's butt out of the fire, Castiel was pumping extra power into his wards, thereby obscuring his trail. Gabriel was forced to go bouncing from safe house to safe house and any other place Cas tended to hang out, because he really needed to talk to his younger brother.

Angel radio ran far and wide, but there were 'secret' channels, so to speak. Ones used mostly by archangels and the 'security' department. Gabriel still had access to them, though he didn't listen in very often. Wouldn't do to go and get noticed. But since this whole mess started, he did sneak a listen from time to time.

"Cas' little stunt with you has some serious panties in a twist. More than he might suspect. I just want to give him a heads up on that."

"He's been declared fallen." Anna felt sick at the thought. She believed it the right choice for her, but she didn't want to be the cause of another angel's fall, no matter how much she thought they all needed to open their eyes and see what was happening.

Gabriel snorted, but didn't say anything. They could declare it all they wanted, it still wouldn't make it so. Given that Castiel's current assignment came straight from Dad, the only way Cas would truly be fallen was if God himself said it was so.

He just prayed Cas was right about the backdoor power taps into Heaven. He knew it was possible, he'd used them himself a time or two, but there wasn't as much happening back then. With the upcoming apocalypse, they might start guarding the borders better than they use to.

Hopefully the Winchester's friend Ash, knew what he was talking about when he helped Cas set it up.

He gave his head a sharp shake. None of that mattered right now. What mattered was Cas in the path of Heaven's own SS interrogation and brainwashing team. Zachariah's re-education camp was a picnic next to them.

What Raphael and Michael were smoking the day they came up with the idea of Naomi and her band of merry sadists he didn't know. He just knew they were another good reason to have left Heaven when he did.

XXXXXXXX

Uriel, as a new Archangel, had somewhat limited access to the upper information channels, but he heard enough to know Castiel was in some serious trouble.

Odd, at one time he was certain hunting down Castiel and showing him the errors of his ways would have been his first thought. Instead, he found himself wondering how to warn him.

The prophet, who had been quiet most of the day, began humming a tune that could only be called cheerful. Uriel shook his head, the action aimed at himself. He still felt humans were beneath angels. Surely, looking after the prophet should have emphasized that. The man was slovenly, lascivious, and often drunk. Yet, instead of being disgusted, he found himself filled with tolerance and even benign amusement when it came to the prophet.

He knew prophets were to be protected, but this was the first time in centuries he truly felt he was doing God's work. That their Father would want him here, and was happy with him.

Almost forgotten now was the mad plan that had been eating into his mind. He had to wonder at himself for even considering an attempt to recruit other angels to free Lucifer.

If the apocalypse was upon them, then it would happen as Father wished it. He would not take steps to interfere with that. However, if now was not the time, he would not rush to make it happen.

The prophet's humming became even more cheerful. He must be having a good day.

XXXXXXXX

"Dumb ass idjits. You've played enough fake Feds to know to check up on the ones you meet in the field. Especially when you might be dealing with something that can change its shape. Only took me one call to figure out Agent Nick Munroe wasn't real.

Both banged up brothers gave the older hunter a sheepish look. The Siren had gotten into their heads and managed to pull off a knock down, drag out fistfight between the two brothers. They'd said things to each other they weren't happy about. Nothing time wouldn't fix, but they'd be uncomfortable with each other for a while.

At least there weren't any big secrets sitting between them, like there had been in the past.

"Well, at least he… she… whatever, couldn't hook in hard enough to get us to really try and kill each other." Dean did have a knife early on in the fight, but he'd dropped it in favour of his fists. Thankfully, Bobby picked it up. Dean couldn't say he appreciated the older hunter cutting him, but his blood needed to be on the blade to take the Siren out and he'd have liked trading a few more punches with Sam even less.

Bobby shook his head at them one last time. "By the way, as you might remember, me and Rufus have been going over the Prophet's work. Both the should have beens and the nows."

Both brothers shrugged. "Yeah?"

"Yeah, so I was wondering if you wanted to know who Loki really is?"

XXXXXXXX

Castiel thought over where they were in the new timeline as opposed to the previous one. With no seals currently being broken, no one was attempting to kidnap and sacrifice two reapers. Uriel appeared busy with his new duties and if that should change, Castiel had spoken to the first two angels who were originally killed for refusing to join in freeing Lucifer. He did not named Uriel, only told them that if an angel should approach to enlist them in an endeavour they knew to be wrong, to fake their agreement with that angel, then come to him or the Winchesters for help.

He'd named the Winchesters, because even then he knew Heaven would eventually declare him fallen. It was too big of an event in his personal timeline and letting it occur would hopefully give him some wiggle room when it came to other, more important matters.

The only other thing he remembered as pressing, was the Sandover Bridge & Iron Company haunting. He'd passed it on to Bobby, who passed it on to a hunter he trusted in the area, so the boys wouldn't have to become involved with it at all.

Everything else was… tidy. The Winchesters knew about the prophet, even if they hadn't met him face to face. The only other big, personal thing of importance left to deal with was…

"Hello Castiel."

Was him being grabbed and re-educated. The way time kept reacting to being reordered, brought him to the decision to let the attempt occur. That was why he'd left his safe houses, thinned his wards and was standing in an abandoned factory, broadcasting his existence to Heaven.

He turned to find an angel he… didn't believe he'd ever met before. With her were two other angels he'd seen around, but didn't know well.

They were not who came for him originally.

He suspected he may have miscalculated just how annoyed time was with him.

XXXXXXXX

Jimmy Novak staggered his way to a phone booth. Searching his pockets, he pulled out a fistful of change and plugged it into the phone. After a moment to rack his memory, he dialled.

He almost sobbed when someone picked up on the second ring.

"Dean, help."

XXXXXXXX

With a creak, Sam and Dean opened the Impala's doors and looked over the diner.

"Think he's here?" Sam asked.

Dean shrugged. "Should be. I told him to call a cab and meet us here." He shrugged again at Sam's questioning glance. "He was freaking out and it was the only place I could remember from the last time we were through here."

Sam snorted and shook his head. To him, these places blended together until they were almost like one. Dean on the other hand, could probably tell you the idiosyncrasies of every diner they'd ever visited.

They walked in to find 'Cas' sitting at a table, two stacked empty plates beside him and a third with burger and fries in front of him. Off in the back the wait staff and cook were staring at him and shaking their heads.

"Ah… Jimmy?"

Novak swallowed and stood, holding out a hand. He shook with each of them.

"Dean, Sam. Nice to meet you. Again." He sat down and indicated the chairs beside him. "The cheese burgers are wonderful." That said, he picked up the one on his plate and bit into it.

They paused while the waitress came over and took their orders. Dean went for the cheeseburger, Sam ordered the chef salad and Jimmy asked for another burger, hold the French fries.

The waitress looked vaguely ill at the last order, but said nothing. She jut nodded, collected the empty plates and took their orders to the kitchen.

"Hungry much?" Dean asked.

Jimmy shrugged. "Cas doesn't generally eat. Doesn't need to, but that doesn't mean I don't miss it. So I don't intend to let the opportunity go to waste."

"So," Sam asked. "You're Cas' vessel. The guy who said yes?"

Jimmy snorted. "Yeah. Not my brightest moment. I'm just glad that this timeline me and my daughter are both out of it now." For a moment, his expression was… depressed, yearning, sad, hopeful… and yet those words couldn't begin to describe sudden crash of emotion. He buried himself back in his food, biting down on the hamburger to try to chase the feelings away.

Dean and Sam nodded in agreement with what he'd said. Seeing the little girl possessed by the other Cas weirded them out big time.

"So, is Cas okay?"

Jimmy held up a hand while he chewed and swallowed. "Sorry. Yeah, more or less. He's still here, still with me. He's just… kinda hurt. Usually he's too strong to let me have control for long. Can't dampen his power down for more than a few minutes. Now though..."

"It's bad?"

Jimmy shrugged. "It's not good. The last time something like this happened, they yanked him right out of me. This time the attack was worse, but Cas is more powered up than he used to be. Two of the angels that jumped him are dead. The third one may be waking up now from wherever Cas dropkicked her too. Not sure where she landed but I'm betting it was someplace on the other side of the planet."

Dean smirked, then shook his head. "How did they find him?"

Jimmy sighed out a breath. "It's a bit vague, but I don't think he was hiding. He was expecting something like this. With all the time changes, sometimes it's best to let some of them happen. He didn't intended to let them take him, but he didn't expect the attack to be that powerful. The three that came for him weren't as strong as he is, but it was close."

"So, any idea how long before Cas is back in the driver's seat?"

"No clue." He looked up and smiled at the waitress as she brought him his next hamburger. "Thanks."

Dean and Sam also nodded their thanks to the waitress. Dean picked up his burger, taking a healthy bite and chewing with much gusto.

"Damn, that is good."

Mouth full of burger, Jimmy just nodded.

XXXXXXXX

They were finishing their meals, when Gabriel stalked into the diner. He gave the two brothers a nod before staring hard at Jimmy.

"Too late I see."

Dean frowned. "You knew this was going to happen?"

"Suspected. I've been bouncing from safe house to safe house looking for Cas." He smirked. "Anna is royally pissed at all of you, by the way."

"She talk to her parents, or…"

He shrugged. "Can't say, since I left before they woke up. If you're asking if she went angel, the answer is no. Don't promise it will stay that way." He reached a hand out to Jimmy. "May I."

Jimmy nodded.

Gabriel put his hand on Jimmy's head and they were all still and quiet for a few moments. Gabriel let out a sigh of relief and backed away. "He'll be okay, the dumb ass."

The waitress appeared to take their plates and ask them if they wanted anything else. Gabriel, much to Dean's delight, ordered pie alamode all around.

"Thanks… Gabriel."

The archangel glared at Jimmy.

"Hey, don't look at me… or Cas."

Gabriel turned his gaze back on Dean. Dean tried to return it with an innocent look, but wasn't really pulling it off. After a minute, Gabriel rolled his eyes.

"Prophets, never can keep them from blabbing."

"I thought that was the point." Sam said.

Gabriel dismissed the subject with a snort and went back to studying his brother's vessel.

"Why the hell did he put himself out in the open like that?"

Jimmy grimaced. "Something similar happened in the original timeline and I think he thought he'd just get it over with. The first time they pulled Cas out and… well, he wasn't the same for a while. He wouldn't have had any trouble with the angels they sent last time, even without the nasty surprise spells he layered into his wards, but…"

Gabriel gave him a chuckle that lacked any humour. "Yeah. They sent out the big guns this time." He gave him another look over. "Knowing Cas, he's probably had run ins with Naomi a time or two. But knowing Naomi, he probably doesn't remember it."

"How so?" Sam asked.

"Let's just say, her methods make Manchurian Candidate brainwashing look like a mild suggestion. If she'd gotten her claws into Cas, she'd have returned him programmed to either kill you or drag you to 'back' to Hell." He gave Dean his widest smirk.

"Awesome."

"Mmm."

Gabriel pointed at Jimmy. "You're going to a safe house for the next couple of weeks, until Cas is better and can fix his wards, again." They weren't shattered like last time, but they were cracked all to hell, probably the side effects of whatever defenses Cas had worked into them.

Jimmy sighed, but nodded. "Just make sure there's food, and maybe some books and a television."

"No problem."

"And not the one in New York… Or Colorado."

"Damn, spoil all my fun why don't you."

XXXXXXXX

In the end, Naomi called in some of her people to help retrieve her from the bottom of the ocean. It should have been simple matter to rescue herself, but the fight with Castiel depleted her strength. She was using most of her current power supply to keep her vessel from being crushed to death by the water pressure. She could have abandoned the vessel, but it was a comfortable suit and she did not intend to give it up.

It wasn't until she was back in her office that she realized how sapped her energy truly was. She didn't know what Castiel had done, but whatever it was, it wasn't right. An angel of his calibre should simply not have been capable of it.

Someone had to be helping him. Had to have helped him set up that trap. Presumably someone other than the Winchesters.

The abomination was a possibility, but… no, even more power than that of one fallen angel.

Perhaps, perhaps there was another such walking the Earth.


	50. Chapter 50

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

Author's note: Added a little to this chapter, just to explain who Abaddon is possessing (thank you Eloquent Aspen for the note).

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 50

Gabriel was feeling somewhat disgusted by everything. Anna might do something she would always regret, Cas, the idiot was on the sick list, and the Winchesters were being more annoying than usual. Added to that, Bobby and his friends were still going over the prophet's notes (current reason for annoying Winchesters), Alistair, the bastard, was walking the Earth and a certain Trickster hadn't gotten to play a good joke on a certain King of the Crossroads in over a week.

Worse, he was probably going to have to pitch in and help, especially with Cas off the playing field for now.

XXXXXXXX

If the timeline were cognizant in the way humans were, it would be having indigestion right about now. Things were twisting around, all uncomfortable like and it couldn't seem to do anything about bigger problems. Therefore, it decided to focus on a smaller irritation.

In the original timeline, this little hiccup wouldn't have shown up for several more years. But, to borrow and mangle a phrase, the wibbly wobbly stuff that is time, decided to sick it up right now.

XXXXXXXX

Gabriel snapped Jimmy/Cas, Dean, Sam and yes, the Impala, to Cas' safe house in North Dakota. He then snapped up enough food and entertainment to keep Novak going for a year, though hopefully it wouldn't take Castiel more than a few weeks to recover.

Much to Dean's disappointment, Jimmy made Gabriel remove the strippers and the serving girls.

Gabriel left, muttering something about bouncing Crowley through a number of TV shows.

"If he does, I hope he sticks him in a diarrhoea commercial." Dean said. Beside him, Sam shifted uncomfortably.

"What? Don't want to see Crowley suffer something uncomfortable and annoying?"

Sam shrugged. "Just thought something worse might be better. Like maybe, genital herpes?"

"Eww."

Sam shook his head. "Yeah, don't know where that thought came from."

Jimmy looked at the 60" wide screen TV Gabriel had snapped into existence, and decided to read a book.

XXXXXXXX

The three of them ate dinner together. Dean and Sam were staying the night and heading on to Bobby's place in the morning. The closeness (just one state away) to the older hunter was one of the things that made Jimmy pick the North Dakota safe house over the others.

One large guest room in the house had two queen size beds in it and the brothers picked it to sleep in. Dean dropped down on one of the beds, giving it an experimental bounce. It was far superior to any motel mattress, but despite the comfort, he was glad they'd be away in the morning. Jimmy seemed like an okay guy, but him not being Cas was starting to weird him out.

They didn't bother to bring in much from the car. Cas in Martha Stewart decorating mode had provided the guest rooms with toiletries (toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, combs, razors, etc.) he'd also provided sleepwear and robes. So the only things the brothers brought in were the basic guns, holy water and knives they always carried on them.

Dean was just starting to take off his outer shirt, when the closet door rattled.

Sam and Dean pulled their guns and pointed it at the closet. Dean considered calling out for Jimmy, but decided that anything in the closet would hear him as well, so he held off. Sam was reaching for the doorknob, when the door opened to a bright light and a man spilled out, landing on one knee in front of them. Behind him, the door to the closet swung shut as suddenly as it had opened.

"Which of you is John Winchester?"

Sam and Dean looked at each other.

The guy got to his feet. "Please, time is of the essence. Which of you is John Winchester?"

"Uh, neither." Sam said, his gun trained on the man."

"Jimmy!" Dean yelled out the door. Now that the guy was out… Well, Jimmy might not be Cas, but he might know what was going on.

"That's impossible." The man said. "That's absolutely…" He wiped at his nose, which appeared to be bleeding. "What did I do wrong?"

"Jimmy!"

"What?" He came in the room, a little annoyed, screeching to a halt when he saw the unexpected third man in the room.

"He came out of the closet."

Jimmy gave the door a look over, then shrugged. "You've got me."

Dean turned back to the man. "Who the hell are you, mister?"

"And how did you get past the wards?" Jimmy added.

"Not now. I'm… Wait, wards?"

Dean grabbed the man, pushing him up against the wall, holding him there with an arm across his chest.

"Please. I can assure you there's no need for violence. One of you must know John Winchester."

"I'll tell you what." Sam told him. When one of us falls out of your closet, then you can ask the questions."

"Yes, my apologies." He focused on Dean. "Is it absolutely essential, sir, that you keep your hands on me?"

Dean let him go and backed off a couple of steps, but he kept his gun out.

"Thank you." The man straightened up his clothes and tie. "Gentlemen, in the absence of any and all other explanations, I'm afraid this has been a marvellous, tragic misunderstanding. I'll be on my way."

"That won't be possible." Jimmy told him, beating Sam to the punch. "The house's wards will not recognize you. If you try to leave without our permission, they'll treat you as a potential threat and act… accordingly."

"So," Sam said, his gaze hard. "Why don't you start with your name, and why you're looking for our father?"

The guy took in a startled breath. "John Winchester is your father?"

"Yeah." Dean said, giving his brother an annoyed glance, not knowing that in another timeline, he'd be the one to let that spill. "So, your name, now."

The man took in another deep breath. "Winchester. I'm your grandfather, Henry Winchester."

XXXXXXXX

They didn't let it go at that of course. The usual tests came next. Dean dealt with the silver knife and holy water while Sam looked over Henry's wallet.

"You're from 1958? "

Henry shifted the annoyed look he was giving Dean as he wiped the Holy water he'd been doused with off his face with a hand.

"Yes."

"Time travellers in closets." Dean said, looking up in the air. "What's next, police boxes?"

Sam gave Dean a look. "You've watched Doctor Who? How come you always act like you don't know what I'm talking about?"

"Shut up. And I have no idea what you're talking about."

Henry looked over at Jimmy. "I take it you're not related."

"Thankfully, no."

"Hey!" Both brothers said at the same time.

Jimmy just shook his head.

Then the closet door started to shake again.

Henry looked at it, frowning.

"What…" Then his eyes widened. "Oh my God, run."

The closet door crashed open and with a flash of bright light, a woman in a 1950s style evening dress stepped out.

"Henry." She said with a light laugh as she walked towards him. "Silly man, you forgot to lock the door. But then spells never were your best subject, were they? Why don't you be a doll and give me what I want? And I promise to kill you and your friends here quickly."

Dean didn't wait for Henry to answer her, coming up behind her and planting the demon-killing knife into her back as she finished the sentence. He pulled the knife out as she fell to her knees. Her body lit up gold and for a moment, and it appeared it would be business as usual.

Then it just stopped and she looked up at them, an evil smile on her face.

"Well, that is no way to treat a lady."

Jimmy slapped a hand against one of the walls and a pattern, hidden in the wallpaper lit up with a flash that threw the woman against a wall.

"Run."

This time they all paid attention, and did as told.

Pelting out the front door, Jimmy waited until they were all out before slamming the door shut and slapping his hand against it. For a moment, his eyes flared a white blue and he said a short sentence in something that everyone there recognized as Enochian. Then the light in his eyes went out and he staggered.

Dean caught him, holding him upright.

"Hey!"

Jimmy gave his head a shake. "Cas managed to power the security system, but it's not at full strength."

They all heard a scream and the house shook.

"It's not going to hold her for long."

"Got it.' Dean hauled Jimmy to the car. Sam got their grandfather in the backseat as well. Both brothers got in the front and they peeled out, spewing gravel as they speed down the dirt road, going away from the old farmhouse.

Two miles later, Dean pulled over so Henry could bolt out of the car and throw up in a ditch. It all just... caught up to him. The last straw was thinking of Josie, his friend and fellow initiate, taken by that thing. He knew, given the damage to her body, that there was no chance of her living through an exorcism. He could only hope she hadn't survived the possession. That her soul was free of that horror. That she didn't know... His mind replayed the blood drenched memory of the deaths she caused back in '58 and his narrow escape.

When it came down to it, he thought throwing up was a fairly mild reaction, even if it was embarrassing.

"You okay?" Sam asked as the rest of them got out of the car.

Henry nodded, then proved otherwise by throwing up again. When it was over he paused a moment, waiting to see if it would happen once more. When it didn't, he wiped his mouth with a handkerchief.

"Sorry. It's just all the adventures I enjoy are usually of the literary nature."

Dean shook his head. "Yeah, well, now that you're done blowing chunks, you want to tell us who Betty Crocker was?"

"Abaddon. She's a demon." And that, as far as he was concerned, was all she was now.

"She's more than that." Jimmy said. "She's a Knight of Hell."

"I know I'm going to regret asking this, but what exactly does that mean?" Dean said.

"Knights of Hell are hand-picked by Lucifer himself." Henry told him. "They are of the first-fallen, first-born demons."

"Most of them are dead." Jimmy shrugged at the brother's expressions. "Stuff seeps through, even when I'm asleep. Besides, Cas slipped me the Cliff Notes on her when he powered up the safe house's security system." He decided against mentioning the fact that Cas was also freaking out, because he didn't remember anything like this happening.

"What exactly are you?" Henry asked, trepidation in his eyes.

"He's… He's complicated." Sam said.

Dean laughed. "Very." He looked around them. "And the middle of a road isn't the place to explain it."

"I'll call Bobby, tell him he's about to have guests."

Dean nodded.

XXXXXXXX

Bobby turned off the TV when the phone rang, glad for the distraction. He must have demons on the mind too much, as he thought he'd just seen Crowley in an episode of Chuck.

"Hey Sam, whatcha got?"

XXXXXXXX

Sam explained the bare bones to the other hunter. He ended the call, nodded an okay to his brother, and then looked back at Jimmy and Henry. "So, anything special about a Knight of Hell, other than the title?"

Jimmy frowned. "They're strong, very strong. It's why your knife didn't work on it."

Henry laughed. "Of course normal, run-of-the-mill cutlery won't work. At the very least, you'd need an ancient demon-killing knife of the Kurds."

"That's the knife I'm talking about."

"Where…?"

"Got it from a demon." Dean gave his grandfather a quick backwards glance. "Let's just say we've been around that block a few times."

Henry shook his head. "Legend has it that the Archangels had killed all of the Knights."

"All but one." Jimmy said, frowning because Cas' knowledge wasn't much better than hearsay. "Abbadon was apparently flung into the deepest depths of Hell. She hadn't been seen since."

"But if Lilith could get out, so could she." Sam said.

"Lilith is out?" Henry asked, shocked.

"Guys." Dean said, already feeling a headache coming on. "Let's wait till we get to Bobby's, okay?"

Everyone maintained a grumpy silence for most of the drive. The only high, or odd note coming when Dean went through a late night fast food drive-thru and Henry watched in a state of horror as Jimmy ate his way through four different kinds of burgers, two orders of fries and a yogurt parfait.

XXXXXXXX

Back at the safe house, the walls and the ground around it shook. The small animals, insects and birds that normally made their homes near it had started running, scuttling or flying away from the place some time ago. If the grass could have pulled itself up by the roots to crawl to safety, it would have.

There was a scream, the sound twisting to a depth impossible coming from a young woman's throat. The house shook one more time, then the front door blew off its hinges to land in the middle of the dirt driveway.

"Arrrr…gggg." Abaddon looked around and snarled. Her prey was long gone. With nothing for it, she stomped out of the house, skirts swaying, and started walking.

XXXXXXXX

Henry was dozing and missed when they turned into Singer Salvage a little after 3am. When they woke him, he wasn't able to see his surroundings, though the outside view of the ramshackle house gave him some pause. The insides wouldn't have been much better, if it hadn't been for the books. Anyone who collected that much knowledge couldn't be all bad.

"What have you idjits gotten yourselves into now?"

Then again. Maybe they could be.

Dean did the introductions. "Henry Winchester, Bobby Singer, Bobby Singer, our grandfather, Henry Winchester. Oh, and that's still Jimmy Novak." He pointed at what to Bobby was usually Castiel. The boys had warned him previously that Cas was 'sleeping' off an injury. He knew Jimmy was supposed to be hiding out at one of Cas' safe houses, but apparently that plan had gone tits up.

But to more important things.

"Grandfather?"

"Yep."

"Balls."

XXXXXXXX

Abaddon whistled as she drove down the road. She didn't know where Henry was, but she'd figure it out eventually. For now, she had money, a kick ass truck and a full tank of gas. The nice young man who stopped to help her had gladly offered her his wallet and keys right after she mind raped him and just before she broke his neck.

XXXXXXXX

Singer offered Holy water all around and once they'd given him the low down on Abaddon, he sorted them out some space to sleep and sent them off to bed, saying they'd be useless without a few hours rest. Henry surprised himself by conking out almost immediately. Five hours later, he woke to a peaceful house and quietly made his way out of the room he was in and down the stairs.

He opened the front door and stepped out on the porch, surprised by the view of wrecked cars as far as his eye could see.

"Ah, I love the smell of rusting metal in the morning."

Henry started and turned to find a smirking young man with sandy blond hair standing beside him.

"So, who might you b…" The man stared at him intensely, his eyes widening as he did.

"Bobby!"

Henry heard a clang of noise inside from what he thought was the kitchen.

"Bobby!"

"Hold your damn horses."

The older man stomped out onto the porch. "What?"

The recent arrival pointed at Henry. "There can not be another Winchester. Three are more that enough."

"Three." Henry looked at him with some hope. "Does that mean you know my son, John?"

"Your…?" Gabriel looked at Henry, confused. "What?" He noticed a look of horror coming over Bobby's face.

"Damn, stupid idjits." He poked his head back into the house, yelling. "Sam, Dean, get your asses down here this minute." He looked back at Henry and shook his head. No way was he going to be the one to deal with this.

XXXXXXXX

Henry had a very bad feeling as Bobby sat him down at the kitchen table and sat his grandsons down with him.

"I need to speak with John. I need to know where he is."

The two brothers looked at each other, their expressions a mix of horror, and head thumping stupid. Henry's bad feeling tripled in strength.

"You can't talk with him." Sam told him. "He's dead."

XXXXXXXX

They left him at the table so they could talk quietly. Henry wasn't really noticing them anyway. He was busy staring at the picture of John he'd pulled from his wallet.

Bobby joined them, obviously annoyed with the both of them. "You couldn't have told him that yesterday?" He asked, voice a pissed off whisper.

He noticed Dean's back go up, but Sam had enough honesty to look sheepish about it. "With the time travel and the demon, it just kind of slipped our minds."

"Idjits."

"I'll second that." Gabriel said, stepping into their circle. He glanced over at Henry. "I can send him back, if you want. Though I'm not sure it's a good idea."

Sam grimaced. "Dad always hated his father."

Dean nodded. "The man left him high and dry."

"But," Sam interjected. "Maybe it wasn't intentional. Maybe he time travelled here and got stuck?"

Dean gave Henry a sour look.

Gabriel smacked him upside the head.

"Oww. What the hell?"

"This is no time to go all hate on your grandfather for messing up his son so he could grow up to mess up the two of you."

"Hey, Dad had his issues, but he was always there for us."

Gabriel gave him a snort. "Except when he wasn't." He held up a hand before Dean could start on him. "Absent fathers, we've all had them. However, John's may not have been by choice. So at least give the mook a chance." He sighed. "Besides, with Heaven and Hell trying to mould your family for the apocalypse, if the time travel didn't happen, they might have made him disappear. One of the reasons I'm not too comfortable sending him back." Well, that and another change to the time line would probably be too much for this reality to handle.

Dean grumbled and walked away, Sam following behind. Bobby stayed, giving the Archangel a raised eyebrow of a look.

"It's disturbing when you actually make sense."

Gabriel shrugged. "Gotta happen sometimes."


	51. Chapter 51

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Disclaimer: No, I don't own them. Sniff wuffle.

Chapter 51

"Okay." Sam sat down across from his grandfather. "You said Abaddon attacked the… group you were with?"

Behind them, Gabriel stiffened at the mention of the demon's name.

Henry blinked at Sam, surprised. "Group? You mean the Men of Letters." The three hunters in the room narrowed their eyes in confusion, while Loki slapped a hand to his forehead and groaned.

"Not those Muttonheads."

"Coffee."

With a start, everyone looked over to the kitchen entrance to see Jimmy standing there, his body swaying slightly as he tried to go from asleep on his feet to barely awake.

Loki gave him a wave. "Hey bro… Or, sort of bro."

Jimmy gave him a bleary look. "Coffee."

Loki smirked and pointed towards the pot, moving out of the way so Jimmy could get to it and pour himself a cup.

"I don't understand." Henry said, once the distraction was over. "How can you not know of the Men of Letters? John should have taught you."

"Our father taught us how to be hunters." Sam told him.

"Hunters… but, no… you can't be. You're legacies."

"Legacies of what? " Dean asked, becoming more than a little annoyed.

Henry looked bleakly at the table before him. "My father and his father before him were both Men of Letters, as John and you two should have been. Someone should have come forward to teach him if I was unable too. We're preceptors, beholders, chroniclers of all that which man does not understand." He looked up at them. "We share our findings with a few trusted hunters – the very elite. They do the rest."

"Okay." Sam said. "But if you guys were such a big deal, then why haven't we – or anyone we know – ever heard of you?"

Loki waved his hand at them. "Hate to say it, but I've heard of them. Had a couple of run ins with them over the years. Never really thought about it, but I haven't seen or heard anything about them since…" He thought about it, and then shrugged. "Since the late 50's or early 60's."

"Who are you?" Henry asked.

"Name's Loki." He smirked at the startled Men of Letters and pointed over at Jimmy. "That's usually my brother, Kaseva, but right now he's Jimmy."

Henry turned an even more startled glance at the now almost awake Jimmy. "Kaseva. The Finnish Trickster god?"

Dean rubbed at the spot between his eyes. "You've actually heard of him."

"Yes. I wrote up a brief on him. It was generally believed he didn't exist. That the historical data on him had been faked somehow."

Loki snorted. Apparently he wasn't as good at planting his little brother's phoney past as he thought. Well, there was only one thing to do about that.

Lie.

"Nope." Loki said, popping the P and smirking. "He's real. So real your grandson's his paladin."

Dean gave the trickster a glare that stretched Loki's smirk even wider.

"I don't understand." Henry said, trying to look at everyone at the same time.

"Just, never mind that." Dean said. "It's a long, long story that we don't have any time for right now. Let's get back to the demon and what it wants from you."

Henry hesitated for a moment, then pulled a carved box from his pocket. "This, I think."

"What is it?" Bobby asked, looking at it sideways.

"I wish I knew." He slid the box back into his pocket, relaxing slightly when no one demanded he turn it over to them. "Abaddon attacked us the night of my final initiation. All secrets were to be revealed then."

"So you traveled through time to protect something that does you don't know what from a demon that you know nothing about?" Dean asked.

"It seemed a better idea than staying there and having my head ripped from my body."

Grudgingly, Dean nodded. "Point."

Henry leaned forward and clasped his hands together on the table. "I need to get to Normal, Illinois. I need to get to the Men of Letters' headquarters."

"Before we do that." Sam said. "Why don't we see what we can find out from here?"

"How?"

"Bobby." Sam pointed towards the library area of the house. "Mind if I use your computer?"

"Help yourself."

Henry looked around. "Is it set up in the basement?"

This drew confused looks.

"The computer. There isn't enough room up here for one."

"Ohhhh, Kayyyy." Shaking his head, Sam moved towards Bobby's laptop. "Going to be a lot of fun explaining this."

Sam booted up the laptop and studied it, thinking. "All right, um... give me a name – anybody who was in this club."

"The Men of Letters is not a 'club'." Sam just waited for him. "Very well. Um... Ackers, David. Larry Ganem. Um, Ted"

Sam held up a hand to stop him. "Okay, here it is. August 12, 1958. A tragic fire in Normal, Illinois, at a gentlemen's club. Uh, 242 Gaines Street."

'That is where the headquarters was, but there was no fire."

"Four dead. Larry Ganem, David Ackers, Ted Bowen, and Albert Magnus."

"Albert Magnus."

"Friend of yours?" Dean asked.

"Try a Saint." Loki said. "And natural scientist, assuming you mean Albertus Magnus." He mentioned the natural scientist part, knowing occult groups like the Men of Letters usually took it mean the man had been an alchemist, when all he was, was curious. "Nice guy, but he's been in Heaven a long time."

Henry looked a bit perplexed at Loki's description, but still nodded in agreement. "His was the alias we'd use when going incognito. I believe someone planted his name in that article... so that if a Man of Letters came looking for answers, he'd know something was amiss. I need to find his grave site."

Everyone except Henry looked at Loki.

"Ah, fine. Find out where he's buried and I'll go take a look."

A few more keystrokes and Sam reeled off the cemetery name and address.

"That's all fine, but I don't see how his travelling there alone is any faster than several of us in the car." Henry stated.

Loki just smiled and snapped his fingers.

Henry stared at the spot the pagan god had been a moment before.

"I hadn't realized a forgotten god would still have such power."

"Loki's not forgotten." Jimmy said, sitting down with his third cup of coffee. "Although a chunk of that is probably because of the comic books."

Starting, Henry glanced over at him. "And you're Kaseva?"

Jimmy shook his head. "No, I'm Jimmy. Cas took damage recently so I'm running my… our body."

"How do you come to be sharing the body of a pagan god?"

Jimmy came close to laughing at the looks of panic and Dean and Sam's faces. Apparently they weren't ready to share everything with their grandfather. He stalled a moment, taking a sip of his coffee before answering with the truth, from a certain point of view.

"Not sharing, exactly. Usually I'm just a soul in Cas' keeping."

Henry's face blanched white in horror. He had written the brief on this pagan god. He knew the creature was an eater of souls. That this man was so matter of fact about his own consumption…

Before he could express his shock, Loki returned.

XXXXXXXX

"I found Magnus' grave. I also found stones for the other three dead members mentioned." He looked over at Henry. "Magnus' and two of the others have the same symbol that's on your tie pin carved on the stones."

"It's an Aquarian Star, representing great magic and power. They say it stood at the gates of Atlantis itself."

"Whatever." Loki said, waving Henry off. "Larry Ganem's stone was missing the symbol. Instead, it had a Haitian sign. One that's used for speaking to the dead."

Henry sucked in a breath. "We need to dig up that grave."

"Done." Loki opened his hand and let a set of metal dog tags hang from his fingers. "Kinda doubt Larry was a World War I vet." He looked at one of the tags. "Anyone know a Captain Thomas J. Carey III?

XXXXXXXX

Abaddon pulled up to a computer café and got out of her stolen truck. She was having no luck finding whatever hole Henry had hidden himself down. However, she did have an advantage. She knew she hadn't killed all of the Men of Letters that night and Henry would be looking to connect with the old club. All she had to do was find him, the one still alive and Henry would come to her.

She walked into the café. Screams followed soon after.

XXXXXXXX

Bobby took over computer duties from Sam. At loose ends, the younger Winchester pulled out John's old journal and was paging through it. With nothing to do and feeling ill at ease, Henry started to whistle. He didn't know if it was too keep his spirits up, or an attempt to pretend he wasn't terrified. A type of whistling past the graveyard, so to speak.

Dean, who was starting to fidget, looked over at him. "What is that? I know that tune."

"As Time Goes By." Henry told him. And I hope so. It's from "Casablanca."

Sam looked up from what he was reading. "Right. Dad used to whistle it from time to time."

Henry smiled. "Your father saw "Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy" at the drive-in one night. It scared the beeswax out of him. So I got him this little music box that played that song to help him sleep at night. It worked like a charm."

Sam had to smile. "Wow, it's hard to believe Dad was ever scared of anything."

Bobby snorted and closed his laptop, but opted against saying anything about John Winchester. "Found it in county records. Tom Carey lives in Lebanon, Kansas, and is doing well for a 127-year-old man."

XXXXXXXX

The shopkeeper trembled as the demon grabbed her by the head. It smiled at her, and then breathed out black smoke that entered through her mouth, raping her mind.

"Show me what you've seen." Images flashed from the young woman to Abaddon. When it was done, the demon smiled again.

"Thank you." Then she snapped the young woman's neck. Humming, she went around the sales counter and opened up the cabinet where her new memories told her the good spell components were kept.

"Play dead all you want Larry. I know location spells you've never even heard of."

Smiling, she started to put together the ingredients she needed.

XXXXXXXX

Henry finally got his wish as most of them were in the car, driving somewhere. Henry was somewhat uncomfortable to find himself sitting with Loki in the backseat. Thankfully, 'Jimmy' had stayed behind with Bobby Singer. That man's situation made him even more uncomfortable than the current arrangement.

Even pushing the speed limit as much as Dean was, it was going to take about five hours to make it to their destination. Henry was currently paging through his son's journal. Sam had passed it back to him, switching to his mobile computer. Henry gave the Trickster sitting in the back seat beside him a glance, before reading a passage in the journal on how to kill beings such as him. He missed the smirk Loki gave him, before Dean captured the pagan's attention.

"Not that I mind having the extra fire power along, but why are you along Loki?"

Gabriel's amused expression soured. "Let's just say I owe a certain Knight of Hell a beat down, and leave it at that. And if I go bouncing off on my own, who knows what trouble you mooks will get yourselves in."

Loki smirked at Henry's sense of disbelief. "You won't stand a chance against Abaddon." The Man of Letters told him.

"You haven't seen me in full irritate mode."

"You mean you get worse?"

"Boy's," Dean said, looking at both of them through the rear view mirror. "Do I have to make sure you sit on opposite sides of the back seat? And Loki, one 'Are we there yet?' and I'll kick your ass."

Loki snorted at the unlikelihood, but instead of persisting at annoying them, he snapped himself up a supply of candy and started to eat his way through it.

Henry continued reading the journal, pausing when he found his own initials stamped into the leather cover and recognised the book as the one he'd ordered the day before his initiation into the Men of Letters.

"I'm beginning to gather I don't make it back from this time, do I?

Sam turned to look at him. "We don't know for sure. All we do know is that Dad never saw you again."

"What did he think happened to me?"

"He thought you ran out on him." Dean said, his eyes on the road ahead.

Henry slumped. "John was a legacy. I was supposed to teach him the ways of the Letters."

"Well, he learned things a little differently."

"How?"

"The hard way." Dean said. "Surviving a lonely childhood, a stinking war... only to get married and have his wife taken by a demon... and later killed by one himself. That man got a bum rap around every turn. But you know what? He kept going. And in the end, he did a hell of a lot more good than he did bad."

"I'm sorry. I wish I had been there for him."

"Yeah, it's a little late for that now, don't you think?"

"Dean," Loki said around the chocolate bar he was eating. "Keep that up and I'll stick you in an episode of Dr. Phil."

Loki was a little surprised that the glower Dean sent him by way of the rear view mirror didn't break the glass.

A glance over at Henry gave him an even bigger worry and almost without thinking about it, he reached over and swatted the man upside the head.

Henry put his hand to the aggrieved area, looking at Loki with a shocked expression on his face. "What was the meaning of that?"

"I could hear the wheels turning from here. No. No more time travel."

"I can go back and give John the life he deserves, not the one he was forced to live."

Gabriel shook his head. "Won't work. You don't know the whole picture yet. There's no way someone with the information on the supernatural that you have will be allowed to raise John Winchester. If you hadn't disappeared, one of the two sides would have made sure it happened."

"The two sides?"

"Heaven and Hell." Dean said. Gabriel frowned slightly. To be honest, sometimes he felt that there was a third and maybe even a fourth side pulling strings from the shadows. Worse, he didn't think the feeling was just paranoia.

"What exactly is going on?" Henry asked.

Sam and Dean looked at each other, whatever conversation they had with their eyes, Sam lost. With a sigh, he started on a highly edited story (Gabriel and Castiel true identities were awkwardly jumped over and they didn't even think to mention Adam) of what was happening and what was originally suppose to happen.

Several hours later, when they pulled up to the address they were looking for, Henry's head was still spinning from the information overload.

XXXXXXXX

Larry's wife showed them into the living room.

"Henry, is that you?" The man in the room held out a hand and Henry shook it, realizing with some dismay that Larry was blind.

"I thought you might have survived." Larry gestured to where he knew there should be chairs and a couch and the three men sat.

"These are my grandsons, Sam and Dean."

"Ah, how's your son. John, wasn't it?"

Henry swallowed. "I'm afraid he's passed on."

"Oh. A shame."

"Mr. Ganem," Sam said, noticing that Henry needed a moment to get his emotions back under control. "We need help. Abaddon is back."

"Ah, she's after the item."

"Yes," Henry said. "I need to know what it is."

"I don't know if it matters. The Men of Letters is gone."

"Please Larry." Henry asked, near pleading.

Larry's wife walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. Larry reached up to touch it. "Very well. In the box is the key to every object, scroll, and spell ever collected for thousands of years under one roof. It is the supernatural mother lode."

"And that is what Abaddon wants?"

Larry chuckled. "Can you imagine what she would do with that?'

"How do we stop her?"

"You don't." He took a pen and a small notepad out of his pocket began to write. "If you have the key, then take it to these coordinates." He held out the notepad to Henry, who took it, reading it.

"Throw the key in Henry. Shut the door forever and walk away.

Henry looked horrified at the idea.

It's the safest place on earth, warded against any evil ever created. It is impervious to any entry, except the key.

"But all that knowledge.

Is the price we have to pay for keeping it away from Abaddon. You do... have the key, don't you?

"We left it with a friend." Dean said before Henry could reply. "In South Dakota."

"Well, that's inconvenient." Larry's wife said, standing.

"Dear?"

Her eyes went pitch black. "The years have not been kind to you Larry."

"Abaddon."

Before anyone in the room could even twitch, Abaddon drew a knife and plunged it into Larry's throat.

"Son of a Bitch."

She pulled the knife back out and turned to them. "Now, who's the friend in South Dakota?"

"That would be telling, toots."

XXXXXXXX

Gabriel flashed into the living room just as Abaddon was asking her question. He gave the dead body rueful glance. He hadn't felt Abaddon's presence until she killed the old man. That was one of the many problems with Knights of Hell; they were powerful enough to hide themselves for a time, even from an archangel.

Abaddon turned to him, scowling. There was only one being in all the worlds who had ever called her toots.

"I heard you were dead."

Gabriel called his sword to his hand. "You heard wrong."

XXXXXXXX

Dean grabbed his grandfather. "Move, move, move." There was no way they were going to stay in the middle of this fight.

Sam grabbed the other side and together all three of them hustled out of the house.

Gabriel attacked, not bothering to try anything fancy. As a tactic it almost worked. Abaddon didn't have time to do more than attempt to knock the sword down and away with her knife. The archangel blade moved enough to slice into her side, rather than pierce her chest. She returned the favour, burying her weapon in feathered annoyances side. She wasn't surprised when he didn't even flinch, but it was more satisfying than just dropping the knife to free her hands. She grabbed her attacker's wrists, and tried to push. The archangels smiled grimly and started to drag his blade through the demon's borrowed body. An archangel's weapon was enough to kill a Knight, but it had to be a heart shot, followed by a beheadin. Anything less would only hurt and weaken them.

Light began to flash under Mrs. Ganem's skin as the weapon did its work. Desperation lent her a moment of extra strength, and she gave up trying to push the blade back out, opting to throw herself sideways. She was half cut in half by the move, but it left her free to smoke out of the body.

Gabriel reflexively caught the now dead Mrs. Ganem. He laid it down, his attention on the last of the black smoke, making its way to the kitchen.

His wings took him there fast enough to see Abaddon entering Josie's body. She was now dressed in black denim and leather, rather than the evening gown she was wearing when she came through the portal.

Gabriel didn't even bother to quip at her, attacking one more. She jerked away from him, but the tip of the sword cut a line across her throat. Black smoke tried to escape from the wound. She slapped a hand across the cut and chose to retreat, teleporting as fast and as far away as she could manage.

Gabriel said something truly pungent in Enochian before disappearing his blade and stalking his way out of the house.

XXXXXXXX

Dean stiffened as Gabriel came out. He thought he'd seen the archangel when he was angry, but the being in front of him had reached a level of mad he'd never witnessed before, on anyone. For the first time, he got an inkling of what an archangel really was. Beside him, Sam was also quiet, no doubt noticing the same thing.

Henry, not knowing Gabriel, was somewhat oblivious to his rage.

"She got away?" The question was accusatory.

The ground trembled. The three Winchesters grabbed onto each other, trying to stay upright. Gabriel let it happen for a few seconds, before clutching his hands into fists and taking a deep breath. It took a few more breaths before everything stopped shaking.

"Yes. She got away." He blew out one more breath. "She's hurt though. She'll be licking those wounds for a while."

"Uh." Dean said, treading carefully. "How long? A few days, a few hours?" He needed to know how long they had.

"At least two weeks." Gabriel told him, his answer as certain as the seas. "Even if she gets help, she's not getting over that any faster."

"Okay then." Sam said, looking at his brother and grandfather. "So… we should…"

"Go find your stash of secret lore." Gabriel told them, pointing at the notepad Henry was still holding. "You legacies," he nodded at the boys. "Are going to need it to take the bitch down." With that, he disappeared.

XXXXXXXX

Dean flipped the lever that brought the lights up at the Men of Letter's bunker and looked around the space. Bookcases, books, polished wooden floors, displayed weapons and a large wooden table took up the immediate area.

Dean looked around, eyes wide.

"Guys, I think we found the Batcave."


End file.
